No Sahvir Wheeler has let TyTy Washington blossom

TyTy Washington has led UK to two easy wins playing point guard with Sahvir Wheeler out with a neck injury. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Kentucky has basically played the last three games without point guard Sahvir Wheeler, the Southeastern Conference assists leader. He was injured less than four minutes into the loss at LSU when he ran full speed into a screen and hurt his neck. He missed the 92-77 win over Georgia as well as Tuesday’s 78-66 win at Vanderbilt.

“Wheeler is going to get back to a better team than he left. This (Wheeler’s absence) has really let TyTy (Washington) blossom,” said ESPN analyst Jay Bilas.

Washington had 17 points and a school-record 17 assists against Georgia. He came back with 15 points, four rebounds and four assists against Vanderbilt. He was UK’s primary point guard in both games.

So when Wheeler is ready to come back, how will that impact the Cats — who host Tennessee Saturday.

“What Sahvir does is exceptional and nobody else does it but he can’t play the whole game,” junior forward Keion Brooks said after the Vandy win. “Now we can trust TyTy or Davion (Mintz) to run the point and get the job done. Sahvir being out, everybody has picked it up and did a great job with it.”

Oscar Tshiebwe, who has had 59 points in the two games Wheeler has not played, said Wheeler’s return will make UK “one of the best” teams in the country.

“He is coming with a different mindset,” Tshiebwe said. “We need him because he can see the floor really good and run a lot. I am just so happy for him to be back and help this team.”

Kentucky coach John Calipari wants Washington to be able to do things like a point guard even with Wheeler in the game much like Jamal Murray and Tryrese Maxey did in their careers.

“He will eventually get it,” Calipari said. “What Sahvir does is ball pressure. He’s disruptive (on defense) and his speed with the ball makes us run faster.”

Calipari said he’s seen he now has another player in Washington he can use in pick-and-rolls to score.

“Some stuff we are doing with TyTy (at point guard) we can do with him as an off guard too,” Calipari said.

Calipari is now sold on playing three guards. Against Georgia, he started Washington and Kellan Grady with Tshiebwe, Brooks and Jacob Toppin and UK fell behind early. Against Vandy, he replaced Toppin with guard Davion Mintz and UK got off to an early lead.

“The last game I started  Jacob and I didn’t like that group. I didn’t like the skill set. I didn’t like the basket-making ability,” Calipari said. “If I had my druthers, I would rather start three guards.

“I would like to have three. Even if they are bigger, 6-5 or 6-7. Even if they are smaller, 6-2 or 6-3. You get offense. We are trying to get 75 to 80 (points per game). You can’t score 60 (points and win). Or we can’t.”