Point guard Sahvir Wheeler had no trouble getting inside the North Carolina defense to lead UK to a 29-point win Saturday. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Just because Kentucky beat North Carolina 98-69 Saturday in the CBS Sports Classic in Las Vegas does not mean that coach John Calipari has figured out what will work best for this year’s team. However, what everyone on the team should have figured out is if UK plays with the same energy and effort it did in this game — especially when it is shooting well — then Kentucky can be very, very good.
“This is by far the best we’ve played and we’re still trying to figure it out,” Calipari said. “Sahvir (Wheeler) has not been close to that. Kellan (Grady) made shots.”
Wheeler was better than good. One week after going 0-for-5 from the field in a loss at Notre Dame and being benched in the final minutes because Notre Dame was not guarding him on the perimeter, the point guard went 12-for-15 from the field and had 26 points, eight assists, four steals and three rebounds in 32 minutes. He also had only two turnovers in a near-perfect performance.
His non-stop hustle dictated the flow of the game from start to finish and he was the leader Calipari told him to be whether he was making shots or not.
“At my size, I have got to impact the game and my God-given gift is my speed,” Wheeler said after the game. “I can get my teammates shots. Sometimes when I stop, I kind of smell rubber (burning on his shoes). That is going fast.”
Yes it is but he played under control most of the time and offensively he was able to easily get inside the North Carolina defense most of the game for shots at the basket.
The best news for UK, though, was the balance the team had.
— Grady went 5-for-7 from 3-point range and had 18 points — only his third game in double figures this season — and a season-high six rebounds in 31 minutes.
— Oscar Tshiebwe had seven rebounds in seven minutes before picking up his second foul and going to the bench. Still, despite playing just 22 minutes, he had 16 points on 7-for-12 shooting and 12 rebounds.
— Keion Brooks got benched early in the game because he was not rebounding and running the court the way Calipari wanted. He played only 18 months but still finished with 10 points and three rebounds.
— Kentucky dominated the rebounding 44-26 and the top 10 players who played all had at least one rebound.
Led by Grady, Kentucky was 8-for-15 from 3-point range after going 2-for-19 at Notre Dame. The Cats, though, also had 20 layups or dunks against the Tar Heels. Wheeler said he watched Tennessee’s win over North Carolina with his father and counted 22 layups the Vols made. His father encouraged him to challenge “the big’s foot speed” and it worked.
That attention to detail seemed to have been missing when UK lost at Notre Dame. Maybe the loss to a so-so Notre Dame was the wake-up class the Wildcats needed. Calipari even gave the team the choice of skipping Saturday morning’s shootaround but the players wanted to practice.
Kentucky originally was scheduled to play Ohio State, a more physical team, but a COVID cancellation switched the opponent to North Carolina, which had won five straight games losing on back-to-back nights to Purdue and Tennessee. Calipari said he was glad it was North Carolina that was the replacement opponent.
“We needed to go against a good team to figure out who we are. They had Purdue beat. They are going to be fine. They have got size, got guard play,” Calipari said. “They didn’t make shots just like us at Notre Dame.”
Maybe North Carolina learned things from this game like Kentucky did from its loss.
“It takes time to figure out teams and you can’t skip steps,” Calipari said. “We wanted to beat Notre Dame but it showed us how we can’t play. We have to space the court and not just jam it into the post (to Tshiebwe). We have to get to 75 or 80 (points). If you are not getting to 75 or 80, you are not going to get on a run at the end (of the season).”
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As I watched it, I tried to remember the last time any of his team’s played so well, and I could not recall specific game since the 2015 season. I believe there are some examples scattered along between 2016 and 2020, but I can’t name one sitting here.
So I reviewed the history.
For context, yesterday’s game ANE was 0.54 ppp. That is a raw net efficiency of 29 points in 73 possessions (0.397 ppp) at a neutral court venue (0.00 ppp) against UNC with an ANE of 0.142 ppp, good enough to rank #55 in the nation. This morning, there are “experts” on all sides of the argument elevating and deflating the significance of what happened. The elevators use the North Carolina name to add significance to this huge win while the deflators point out that UNC is not very good, and probably not a NCAA tournament team this season. The deflators are closer to the truth about UNC than the inflators, but it is not the strength of the opponent but the way the team plays regardless of the opponent that really matters, and this team turned in its best performance of the season.
How good is it?
2015:
I returned to the gold standard, 2015, and find that the 2015 team had no less than 8 games stronger than this very strong game, and a 9th game just below at 0.52 ppp. So, if this team, or any team wants to claim equality with 2015, it must do much better than it did yesterday, and do so multiple times.
2016:
In 2016, there were 3 games with game ANE between yesterday’s 0.54 and 0.58 ppp.
2017:
In 2017, there were two better effforts, Arizona (0.59 ppp) and Texas (0.63 ppp).
2018:
In 2018, there were no games as strong as yesterday, and that team’s best game was 0.50 ppp against Alabama.
2019:
In 2019, there were 3 games stronger than yesterday’s effort, two times above 0.60 ppp with the highest at 0.62 ppp against Auburn.
2020:
In 2020, there were no games as strong as yesterday, and the 2020 high water mark occurred in its first game against Michigan State (0.42 ppp), and it is interesting that this is the team so many people suggest would have won the championship if the tournament had not been cancelled, yet over the last month of that season, the best effort was 0.31 ppp against Vanderbilt and its worst was -0.08 ppp against Florida.
2021 and 2020:
Last year is not worth mentioning here, and we all know that yesterday’s game was so strong for this team that nothing else this season can compare.
Thanks Professor
This game was like the old Kentucky games,Fun to watch and something to cheer on since Monk with Fox team. I hope they will build on from this and I think they will as long Covid don’t shut things down.
Most fun of the season
Since Allen refused to go in the game, do you think he will stick around?
Also, Grady needs to take 8-12 shots a game, depending on what is needed. His shooting makes a big difference in this team.
I thought yesterday they did their best job of taking what was given to them against a decent team. Lot of points in the paint, mid range jumpers, and making threes.
You must be a threat to score from all 3 levels every game. This opens the floor for someone on each possession, but then they have to do the rest.
no guess on Allen without knowing all the details but doubt playing or not playing the final 90 seconds will impact him one way or another. With you on Grady but give him credit. He doesn’t force shots
I look for Allen to transfer. He will not see significant playing time at UK. There are teams that could use him now. The handwriting is on the wall IMO. He never even saw the floor even with UK’s 30 point lead.
This win took the pressure off Calipari, for now. It was a butt kicking for UNC. So much fun to witness I might add. Hubert Davis looked like a deer in the headlights. He was popping off in a pregame interview that he had not looked at a scouting report on UK, said his team was just going to go out there and play their game. Losses like he just took may make his tenure very short at "University Cheat." The Cats played hard, it was a great win and very much needed. Wheeler was the catalyst.
I agree, LP.
This was the hardest I have seen UK play for most all of the game in a long, long time.
loved that effort and passion
Great article! I loved the game.
So did I Sarah
Sahvir’s best attribute is his speed. He put it to use on both ends of the floor against Carolina. He did not take any 3’s. He got others involved. That is how he needs to play. He can work on his 3 point shot at the next level.
Oscar got some bad calls, I hope the refs aren’t looking to blow the whistle on him just because he plays hard. I hope he keeps taking those 15 ft. shots.
Kellan got his shot back in the groove. He should get 12 shots every game, but there aren’t enough minutes and shots to go around.
Lance played great! I hope he keeps working on his game and stays focused on helping the team.
I honestly think that Bryce is going to take more and more of Damion’s minutes. The more the kid plays, the better he gets.
As for Dontaie, I hope he does transfer over the Christmas break. He is never going to get the PT he deserves from Calipari. My guess is Cincinatti or Xavier to become the next Johnny Juzang. Another talent wasted by coming to play at UK.
It was a fun game to watch, just wish Dontaie could have got respectable minutes in a game that was never in doubt 5 minutes into the second half.