How is Cason Wallace? And what did the Vandy loss do to Kentucky’s bracketology status?
There’s still one basketball game remaining in the regular season for the Kentucky Wildcats, but the primary focus going into Saturday’s finale will be the status of Cason Wallace.
The freshman point guard was injured in the second half of UK’s 68-66 loss to Vanderbilt on Wednesday night. He’s questionable to play Saturday afternoon against Arkansas.
Wildcats associate to the head coach Bruiser Flint met with reporters early Friday afternoon. He didn’t rule Wallace out for the game against the Razorbacks, but he didn’t let on that he might play either.
“We haven’t done a lot of basketball activities (since Wednesday night),” Flint said. “Usually after a night game, the next day we don’t do much on the floor. So he’s just been getting treatment. And we’ll see how it goes. We’re already in Arkansas, so we’re going to practice this afternoon. So we’ll see how he is.”
UK rearranged its travel plans to get to Arkansas earlier than scheduled due to the threat of severe weather in Kentucky.
Following Wallace’s injury against Vanderbilt, senior shooting guard Antonio Reeves moved over to handle some of the point guard duties for the remainder of the game. Reeves, who has been one of UK’s most electric scorers this season, went 2-for-11 from the floor and 1-for-5 from three-point range with zero assists and three turnovers after Wallace’s injury. UK, as a team, had just two assists in the second half.
“What it does is it puts the ball in his hands an awful lot, which, you know, (defenders) really get on top of him a little bit. But he may have to do that again tomorrow. So we’ll see how it is,” Flint said. “… Right now, we’re just trying to figure out what we’re going to do. What’s the best thing for Antonio. And not only Antonio but Adou (Thiero), for Chris (Livingston) — and see how that goes. But we got a little bit of time to prepare. So we’ll try to do it the best way we can.”
Flint mentioned Thiero and Livingston — both freshman wings — and senior shooting guard CJ Fredrick as possibilities to handle the point guard duties at times Saturday if Wallace can’t play. Thiero has been forced into that position in games in the past, but it’s not his natural spot. Livingston was a ball-dominant player at times in his high school career but hasn’t played point guard this season. Fredrick does well to limit mistakes with the ball, but he typically plays on the wing and is still bothered by a rib injury that forced him to miss several games last month.
Kentucky is also playing without senior point guard Sahvir Wheeler, who led the SEC in assists the last two seasons but has missed the past seven games with an injury. Wheeler is expected to miss another two or three weeks after undergoing a “minor procedure” unrelated to his ankle injury, John Calipari announced earlier this week.
Wheeler was leading the league in assists per game for a third straight season before his latest injury. He has not played since Feb. 4, and the latest timetable for his return would extend his absence into the NCAA Tournament.
Wallace was injured while putting up a shot with 18:25 left in the second half Wednesday night. He initially went to UK’s bench before heading back to the Wildcats’ locker room. By the 8:00 mark in the second half, UK had announced that he would be unable to return to the game, and Wallace did not come back out to the court area.
Calipari struck a cautiously optimistic tone after the game.
“They X-rayed. He’s fine. It’s not swelled,” he said. “So, we’ll see. I’m hoping that he’ll be OK for Saturday, but I don’t know.”
Kentucky will play at Arkansas at 2 p.m. Saturday on CBS. The Razorbacks beat UK 88-73 in Rupp Arena on Feb. 7.
One of the primary reasons for the Wildcats’ recent turnaround, Wallace is averaging 11.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.9 steals per game. He’s second in the SEC in assists per game and fifth in the league in total steals.
The SEC Tournament starts next week in Nashville. The Cats would be the 3 seed and get a “double bye” into the Friday quarterfinals if they beat Arkansas. A loss in Fayetteville this weekend might force them to play in a Thursday game.
Kentucky bracketology update
UK’s home loss to Vanderbilt on Wednesday night led to a drop in the Wildcats’ NCAA Tournament outlook, but they didn’t fall too far in the latest bracketology projections.
Both ESPN and Bracketville had Kentucky as a 6 seed going into the Vandy game. In Friday’s updates, ESPN placed UK as a 7 seed (in the Louisville regional) with a trip to Denver for the first week of the tournament. That bracket had Southern Cal as the Cats’ first-round matchup and 2-seeded Baylor as a possible second-round opponent. Bracketville also has Kentucky as a 7 seed playing 10-seeded Southern Cal in Denver to start the tournament, with a possible matchup against 2-seeded Texas in the second round. That site has UK in the Las Vegas regional.
ESPN has also removed Kentucky from its grouping of “Bubble Watch” teams following the Wildcats’ recent four-game winning streak. UK is now in the “locks” category on ESPN’s site, along with Alabama, Tennessee and Texas A&M from the SEC. Arkansas and Missouri are listed in the “should be in” category, with Auburn and Mississippi State also on the bubble.
All eight of those SEC teams are included in ESPN’s bracketology headed into the weekend.
Kentucky was at No. 21 in the NET ratings Friday morning. The Cats returned to the AP Top 25 for the first time in nearly two months earlier in the week, ranked No. 23 in the country.
Saturday
No. 23 Kentucky at Arkansas
When: 2 p.m.
TV: CBS-27
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 20-10 (11-6 SEC); Arkansas 19-11 (8-9)
Series: Kentucky leads 33-14
Last meeting: Arkansas won 88-73 on Feb. 7 in Lexington
This story was originally published March 3, 2023 at 1:40 PM.
