Sahvir Wheeler might be a better player playing less minutes. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Sahvir Wheeler had to play for Kentucky at Mississippi because Cason Wallace, the player who took his job as starting point guard, could not play because of a leg injury.
Saturday against Florida in Rupp Arena, Wallace was healthy and had a team-high 20 points in 27 minutes but Wheeler gave Kentucky a needed 25 1/2 productive minutes that helped win the game.
Wheeler, normally an assist machine, did have three assists but that’s well below his average. He had eight points on 4-for-5 shooting, but he’s had bigger scoring games. He had two steals and one rebound.
Kentucky had a surprising 14-0 lead in fast break points against Florida, a team that seldom gets beat in transition, and a lot of that was Wheeler.
Kentucky coach John Calipari said without Wheeler, UK would not have won.
“Do you know what he did? Aside from those layups that we really needed to create a gap, he let Cason go do his thing. He told me, ‘Let Cason handle it. I’ll just be on the wing,’” Calipari said.
“That’s a teammate. Cason making those jumpers and that 3, the free throws.”
UK Radio Network analyst Jack Givens had predicted after Wheeler lost his starting job that he would still play a pivotal role for UK and now he’s helped win the last two SEC games with a bigger role than he had after first losing his starting job.
“I think when Wheeler came into the game he did a great job forcing the action and led through his defense,” Givens, a former UK All-American, said. “Whoever he was matched up against he did a wonderful job.
“He stepped up and challenged the ball. Maybe more in the backcourt than we have seen in a long time. He just controlled the Florida guards at times during this game.”
Givens said playing fewer minutes might actually make Wheeler a better player as he’s shown in recent games.
“He is a different kind of point guard than Cason. He pushes the action in a way Cason Wallace doesn’t,” Givens said. “He knows he has to go (all out) the entire time he is out there on the floor. He becomes a different player.”
2 Responses
I totally agree with one of the greatest to ever wear the Blue and White. We will need Wheeler to make a deep run and he is playing better on both ends of the floor. All credit to the young man your accepting his new roll and thriving in it.
Another easy observation if Topping had been playing like he is currently playing we would have had a lot fewer losses. Wheeler caught most of the blame for that stretch but several players were not playing as well as they are not. Winning when Oscar played poorly was unthought of after the SC game. Now we are winning different ways with different players making major contributions!
Maybe , just maybe Cal was right when he said be patient with this team. But whatever you think it’s hard not to like what is going on right now! We would have lost the Fla game(earier in the season with missed free throws and poor execution at cruch time) but now I am comfortable with our end of game execution(still needs improvement but way better than earlier).
GO CATS LETS ROAST THE HOGS! !
Someone need to proof read before posting 🙂