Point guard play so much better for UK this year

wheeler-nov-17

Sahvir Wheeler can get to the basket and finish, distribute the ball and limit turnovers -- the kind of play UK did not have at point guard last season. (UK Athletics Photo)

There’s a lot to like about this Kentucky basketball team but one thing stands out to me more than anything else. Unlike last year, point guard is not a problem. Instead, point guard play suddenly looks like a strength for this team.

Georgia transfer Sahvir Wheeler just has the basketball IQ, playmaking ability and toughness that UK lacked at point guard last year, and if needed both TyTy Washington and Davion Mintz can play there.

Wheeler’s value was on full display Tuesday night during an 80-55 victory over Mount St. Mary’s in Rupp Arena. He was able to get to the basket and finish repeatedly — something UK did not have at point guard last year — and finished with 12 points on 6-for-11 shooting.

He also had eight assists, two steals, one rebound, and just one turnover in 29 minutes. That’s a winning stat line.

In Wheeler’s last two games, he has 20 assists and ONE TURNOVER. After making seven turnovers in the season-opening loss to Duke where Wheeler admitted he tried to do too much and coach John Calipari tried to cover him by saying he played him too much, Wheeler now has 30 assists and eight turnovers in three games.

Wheeler now has more assists in his first three games than any other player ever did. The previous record was 22 by John Wall, the first pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.

“That is obviously elite company to be mentioned with,” Kentucky assistant coach Orlando Antigua said after the UK win. “Because of how well he is facilitating, he needs to make shots to keep people (defenses) honest. He did a great job, especially in the second half, when they were trying to take away 3’s to finish and get to the rim.”

Wheeler’s play helped spark a 25-4 run to open the second half after UK Led only 38-27 at halftime.

“We wanted to make sure we played with energy and our motors were active to start (the second half), execute offensively and jump into our pressure to see if we could expand the lead,” Antigua said.

Thanks to Wheeler’s point guard play, Kentucky was able to do both to start the second half and from all I’ve seen I believe that is what Wheeler can keep providing for this team that last year’s 9-16 team lacked.

3 Responses

  1. The assist’s are awesome, but I love the fact that he is not turning the ball over, and playing some good hard nose D. Washington just has to think a little more and get rid of those freshman turnover’s, at least some of them.
    BIG OSCAR, has just came in as a BA, from the start and just has been that ‘BA’
    GO BIG BLUE

  2. I also like the fact he’s a leader of talking to his teammates while on or off the floor. Is this another Tyler Unis in the making ? He reminds me of him.

  3. It’s still early and a work in progress. Coach said Oscar had a midrange jumpshot and he was right, lol. Sahvir had a good game, but I am not sure we need him taking double digit shots. He did a better job of getting the ball to Oscar, but he needs to work on the same chemistry with the other 3 guys on the floor too. Those other 3, regardless of who they were, played more one on one when they did get the ball and that will beat us when playing Kansas or a top tier SEC team. Everyone needs to know that Sahvir is looking for them even if Oscar is the focal point of the offense. The better teams will scheme to stop Oscar and Sahvir can’t take it upon himself to save the day. The Duke game should have taught him that. We have a lot of talent, but talent means nothing without opportunity and it’s Sahvir’s job to make sure everyone is getting involved in the offense. At this time, Ty Ty appears more comfortable playing the 2 spot vs. the 1. The same can be said for Davion, but they need for Sahvir to look for them too because Oscar is not always going to be an option.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts

All articles loaded
No more articles to load
Loading...