Sahvir Wheeler not playing made it harder on Georgia defense

John Calipari and Orlando Antigua had Kentucky rolling Saturday and Georgia coach Tom Crean said UK might be the best running team in the country. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Georgia coach Tom Crean certainly knows what Kentucky point guard Sahvir Wheeler can — and cannot — do because Wheeler played for him at Georgia, and led the Southeastern Conference in assists last season before transferring to Kentucky. Crean wasn’t sure if Wheeler would play against the Bulldogs Saturday after suffering a neck injury at LSU on Tuesday.

“We had to prepare for this game with two different game plans. We had to prepare (if) Sahvir was going to play and we back him up at the free throw line and we had to prepare as if they have three shooters on the court,” Cream said after UK’s 92-77 win that did not include Wheeler playing.

“We ended up having to guard their guards and there were very few places where you could help from.”

Davion Mintz had 19 points, TyTy Washington 17 and Kellan Grady nine in UK’s three-guard offense without Wheeler.

“Transition defense that hurt us. They have as good a running game as there is in the country, and it might have even been better tonight because they had five guys that can score that are on the floor (with Wheeler out),” Crean said.

“Having to guard all three guards is a problem because all three of those guards can really make plays, and Kellan Grady is playing like the Steph Curry of the SEC. I told him after the game he’d be a 10-year pro, easy. We put a lot of attention on him, but the other guys hurt us a little bit more.”

Grady was only 4-for-12 from the field but Mintz was 7-for-10 and Washington 8-for-13. Wheeler is not an outside scoring threat and no doubt Georgia would have backed off him and dared him to shoot from outside. With Wheeler on the bench, the Bulldogs could not do that.

“I would say that that’s the best their team has looked because the ball really moved and you’ve got to guard all three guys. And you’ve got to guard  Mintz, you’ve got to guard TyTy Washington and certainly, we put a lot of attention on Grady,” Crean said.

“So, there’s no one in there that you can really back off of. They got down the court and they made some buckets and we just couldn’t get enough stops to overcome it.”