Playing status revealed for Kentucky’s Cason Wallace ahead of SEC finale at Arkansas
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Game day: No. 23 Kentucky 88, Arkansas 79
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark.
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Players unavailable due to injury have been a theme for the 2022-23 Kentucky men’s basketball season, and this will continue through UK’s final regular-season game.
The Wildcats will play Saturday afternoon at Arkansas without star freshman guard Cason Wallace, who suffered a left leg injury during Wednesday night’s home loss to Vanderbilt.
Wallace entered Saturday questionable to play at Arkansas.
Wallace didn’t take part in pregame warmups with Kentucky on Saturday. During UK’s pregame radio show, Kentucky head coach John Calipari confirmed that Wallace wouldn’t play against the Razorbacks.
Calipari also said he expects redshirt senior guard CJ Fredrick to play about five minutes each half against Arkansas. Calipari said not playing Wallace and limiting Fredrick’s minutes will be done with an eye toward next week’s SEC Tournament in Nashville.
On Friday, Bruiser Flint, Kentucky’s associate to the head coach, told reporters in a Zoom interview that Wallace had been receiving treatment since Wednesday’s game.
“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.”
On Wednesday night, Calipari offered some hope in his postgame comments about Wallace’s injury.
“They X-rayed. He’s fine. It’s not swelled,” Calipari said. “So, we’ll see. I’m hoping that he’ll be OK for Saturday, but I don’t know.”
Wallace has played and started in 29 of Kentucky’s 30 games so far this season, with per-game averages of 31 minutes, 11.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.9 steals.
Wallace missed Kentucky’s road win at Ole Miss in January with a knee injury. Also in January, Wallace suffered a lower back injury during Kentucky’s home loss to South Carolina.
Who will play point guard for Kentucky?
Complicating matters is the fact that the Wildcats will remain without senior guard Sahvir Wheeler on Saturday for the eighth straight game.
Wheeler underwent a minor medical procedure unrelated to his previous right ankle injury on Wednesday morning, and is expected to miss several weeks while recovering.
This means Kentucky will not have a true point guard for Saturday’s game at Arkansas.
Following Wallace’s injury Wednesday night against Vanderbilt, UK senior shooting guard Antonio Reeves moved over to handle some of the point guard duties for the remainder of the game.
UK, as a team, had just two assists in the second half.
During his Friday afternoon Zoom meeting with the media, Flint mentioned freshman wings Adou Thiero and Chris Livingston, along with senior shooting guard CJ Fredrick, as options for the Kentucky to use at point guard against the Razorbacks.
GAME-BY-GAME KENTUCKY STARTING LINEUPS
Here’s a look at the starting lineups that UK has used for all 31 games so far in the 2022-23 season.
The Cats have used 11 different starting combinations.
Howard: Cason Wallace, CJ Fredrick, Chris Livingston, Jacob Toppin, Lance Ware.
Duquesne: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Ware.
Michigan State: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Ware.
South Carolina State: Sahvir Wheeler, Wallace, Fredrick, Toppin, Ware.
Gonzaga: Wheeler, Wallace, Fredrick, Toppin, Oscar Tshiebwe.
North Florida: Wheeler, Wallace, Antonio Reeves, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Bellarmine: Wheeler, Wallace, Reeves, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Michigan: Wheeler, Wallace, Reeves, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Yale: Wheeler, Wallace, Reeves, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
UCLA: Wheeler, Wallace, Reeves, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Florida A&M: Wheeler, Wallace, Livingston, Ware, Tshiebwe.
Missouri: Wheeler, Wallace, Livingston, Ware, Tshiebwe.
Louisville: Wheeler, Wallace, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
LSU: Wheeler, Wallace, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Alabama: Wheeler, Wallace, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
South Carolina: Wheeler, Wallace, Livingston, Collins, Tshiebwe.
Tennessee: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Georgia: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Texas A&M: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Vanderbilt: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Kansas: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Ole Miss: Wheeler, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Florida: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Arkansas: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Georgia: Wallace, Reeves, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Mississippi State: Wallace, Reeves, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Tennessee: Wallace, Reeves, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Florida: Wallace, Reeves, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Auburn: Wallace, Reeves, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Vanderbilt: Wallace, Fredrick, Canada, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
Arkansas: Reeves, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
KENTUCKY’S WIN-LOSS RECORD BY STARTING LINEUP
Here’s a look at Kentucky’s win-loss record this season by starting lineup for all 31 games.
Lineups are listed in order of total games played.
5-2: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
4-1: Wallace, Reeves, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
4-1: Wheeler, Wallace, Reeves, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
2-1: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Ware.
2-1: Wheeler, Wallace, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
1-1: Wheeler, Wallace, Livingston, Ware, Tshiebwe.
1-0: Wheeler, Wallace, Fredrick, Toppin, Ware.
1-0: Wheeler, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
0-1: Wheeler, Wallace, Fredrick, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
0-1: Wheeler, Wallace, Livingston, Collins, Tshiebwe.
0-1: Wallace, Fredrick, Canada, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
0-0: Reeves, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.
▪ This is the starting lineup for Saturday’s game at Arkansas.
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 4, 2023 at 1:36 PM.
