Next Cats player page: Kentucky basketball transfer Sahvir Wheeler
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With a need to land multiple point guards during the offseason, Kentucky was mighty lucky to add Southeastern Conference assists leader Sahvir Wheeler to pair with five-star recruit TyTy Washington.
Wheeler — at 5-10 and 180 pounds — doesn’t have the size and length that many of John Calipari’s top point guards of the past have possessed, but he’s a high-IQ playmaker with plenty of speed and craftiness on the court.
SAHVIR WHEELER
- Point guard | Houston
- 5-foot-10, 180 pounds
- Previously played for Georgia
- Averaged 14.0 ppg, 7.4 apg in 2020-21 season
- No. 100 recruit in 2019 class (247Sports composite)
Wheeler was a four-star recruit out of high school and emerged as an immediate contributor as a freshman at Georgia (playing 27.3 minutes per game with 17 starts in his first season) before enjoying a breakout sophomore campaign in which he averaged 14.0 points and led the Southeastern Conference with 7.4 assists per game.
The Texas native had 10 or more assists in eight of Georgia’s 26 games during the 2020-21 season, including double-digit assists in three of the final four games of the season, a stretch that featured a triple-double in a victory over Louisiana State. Wheeler has compared himself defensively to former UK point guard Tyler Ulis — “as far as guarding the ball, being a defensive pest, being disruptive on that end,” he said — and his energy level and team-first attitude will likely make him an instant fan favorite.
Wheeler will share the backcourt with Washington at Kentucky, but he should have even more options to pass to from the perimeter, and his ability to get past the first level of defense will bring UK an element that was often missing from the 2020-21 squad.
“Just looking from a roster standpoint, I’ve never got to play with elite shooters like Kentucky has this year on its roster, especially in college,” Wheeler said. “I’ve never got to play with the elite athleticism, the size, the length, the versatility with the wings and the forwards. And also, being able to play for a coaching staff who has put multiple point guards in the NBA Draft, who has developed them throughout the years and given them confidence and empowered them.”
Wheeler knew Washington would be part of Kentucky’s 2021-22 team when he made his decision to come to UK and has said he thinks the two point guards will play well together in Calipari’s system.
He will have three seasons of eligibility at UK, and he’s expected to be cleared to play this season once the SEC amends its rules on intraconference transfers, a change that should come this summer.
Quotable
“I wanted to see what opportunities were going to be out there where I could better myself and have an opportunity to make a run at the national championship and also put myself in position to play at the next level and achieve my dreams. After a lot of re-evaluation and knowing that the one-time transfer rule was possibly a thing that could pass this year, I decided to look elsewhere and eventually end up at the University of Kentucky.”— Sahvir Wheeler
What Calipari says
“Sahvir is the kind of player that dictates the pace of the game, who gets easy baskets for himself and his teammates, and who can be disruptive defensively. He is what you look for in a point guard in that he puts his teammates in positions to score, yet he can score the ball in bunches when he needs to. He was a second-team all-conference player as a sophomore and almost routinely put up games with double-digit assists, including setting the SEC Tournament record this last season with 13. I am excited for him to be a part of this program and my guess is our players will be, too.”
This story was originally published May 25, 2021 at 9:05 AM.
