Sahvir Wheeler had one rebound, one assist and one turnover in four minutes before he was hurt Tuesday and never returned to UK's 65-60 loss at LSU. (UK Athletics Photo)
If you ever wondered what point guard Sahvir Wheeler meant to Kentucky, you found out Tuesday night. Wheeler, UK’s point guard, took a big hit when he ran into a LSU screen set by Efton Reed less than four minutes into the game. He laid on the floor for a long time, needed help getting off the court and never returned to the game — or even the Kentucky bench.
The Cats looked lost on offense most of the game at LSU except for the opening 5 1/2 minutes in the second half when they scored 17 points to take a 50-41 lead. The next 11 minutes UK scored three points and lost 65-60 at LSU to open Southeastern Conference play.
It didn’t help that Oscar Tshiebwe got his second foul with 12 minutes to play in the first half and stayed on the bench until halftime or that guard TyTy Washington left the game with about eight minutes to play with leg cramps and played only a brief bit the rest of the game.
Despite all that and making only 21 of 58 shots from the field and 10 of 20 free throws, Kentucky still had a chance to win at the end until making two costly free throws.
Calipari liked the way his team “didn’t quit playing” despite the adversity of injuries, foul trouble, poor shooting, and a rowdy road atmosphere.
“We had some funky lineups. That started causing trouble offensively. But guys fought and that’s all you can ask,” Calipari said. “I was disappointed in the way we started the game. A lot of guys were almost intimidated by the game. You can’t play at Kentucky if you are intimidated.”
With Wheeler out, UK could not get into its typical offense — or create quite as much havoc on defense.
Jacob Toppin said UK practices without Wheeler and Washington in the lineup.
“We definitely work on it but in a game it is different than practice. You can work on it but at the end of the day the game is always going to be different,” Toppin, who had 13 of his 14 points in the first half, said. “
Toppin said it’s just hard to replace Wheeler’s speed.
“We continued to get into transition offense but the speed he brings … even if people sag off him he can get into the lane,” Toppin said. “He is very good on the defensive end. He doesn’t allow a lot of points and is very disruptive, something we lacked tonight.”
Kellan Grady, who made four 3-pointers in the second half after falling to make a shot in the first half, said losing Wheeler made a huge difference.
“He is our point guard. He is the engine to our car. He is the guy who can orchestrate our offense and get us out in transition,” Grady said. “Obviously it’s a pretty serious adjustment on the road in an atmosphere like this. But you can’t question the resolve and fight (of the team).”
With Wheeler and then Washington out, Davion Mintz had to play point guard, a spot he played the final few games last year when UK was 9-16. However, Kentucky could not get into offense with him running the point late and Grady could not get shots when UK desperately needed a field goal with Wheeler or Washington there to find him.
“I thought Davion did fine but he’s not a point guard. He’s more of a scorer (and did score five straight points late to get UK within a point),” Calipari said. “He fought on defense. He did some good stuff.”
However, Kentucky just didn’t do quite enough stuff to beat LSU, which had opened SEC play with a loss at Auburn last week.
“Tough loss for these kids. Some guys were not ready for this moment but that’s all part of growth,” the UK coach said.
2 Responses
Wow, that was a real butt kicking. Coach Wade figured out how to neutralize a better team…assault them, literally. Grab, hit, hack, push, hold, and shove and don’t worry about the fouls. The refs won’t call even half of them with a crowd that is about to storm the floor. There are a number of ways that refs can be given "incentives" to throw a game. This is the lengths that coaches who are trying to compete with high level programs, but don’t have high level talent, to get a win…especially on their own floor. The SEC isn’t the only league that has this problem, but it no more prominent than in SEC men’s basketball. Referees know the drill. They know coaches will black ball them if they don’t swallow their whistles at the right times. They also know how quick a game can turn into a brawl that could easily entice a raucous crowd to come out of the bleachers and get some payback of their own. Other considerations can come into play that can’t be seen on the floor, but are tied to the outcome on it just the same. Will Wade is a coach who should be in jail, not on the sidelines of a basketball game. He must have made a damn strong offer to a connected political figure to literally walk away from that joke of an NCAA investigation that had a smoking gun and did nothing about it. This won’t be the last time KY sees this. It is the blueprint on how to send UK back home with an "L". Wade is not the only coach who is being pushed for wins at any cost. Calipari is not a favored coach like Coach K, so I don’t see this changing anytime soon.
I don’t see this changing anytime soon. This team is not tough enough or muscled up enough to fight through these snake pits. This game could have been won, but we completely lost our composure in the last 30 seconds and threw the game away. Going 10 for 20 from the foul line also shows that we were not mentally tough enough to hit an uncontested 15 foot shot and that alone could have changed the outcome in spite of the antics that were employed by the Tigers. We aren’t going to get any sympathy from anyone in this regard; most UK haters will cheer such tactics and outcome. Our guys better eat their Cherrios, hit the weight room, and sign up for street fighting lessons. You can be sure every coach has watched the Notre Dame film and last night’s game and are thinking…so that’s how I can beat these guys.
Haven’t seen anything anywhere about “ little big mans “ injury or condition.
Could anyone shed any light on the severity or his status ??