LEXINGTON, Ky. — First, the (potentially) good news, which was otherwise in scant supply for Kentucky on Wednesday night: John Calipari said X-rays were negative on five-star freshman point guard Cason Wallace’s injured lower left leg, which wasn’t swelling after a 68-66 home loss to Vanderbilt. “He’s fine,” Calipari said. “I’m hoping that he’ll be OK for Saturday.” That was about the only (maybe) positive development for the Wildcats.
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But for a fan base that has not experienced an NCAA Tournament victory since 2019 and watched a once-promising season get derailed in part by a run of awful injury luck around this time last year, the feelings of dread and deja vu must have been overwhelming. Calipari’s club, freshly hopeful and finally back in the top 25 after winning four straight games, wanted the last home game of this season to be a celebration of six seniors, including star Oscar Tshiebwe, who delivered one of his classic, tank-emptying performances in what was likely his Rupp Arena farewell.
Instead of a party, though, Kentucky got a traumatic flashback. Sahvir Wheeler was not healthy enough to play, Wallace missed almost the entire second half after crumpling and needing help to the locker room, and with no other true point guard left to play, the Cats wasted a monster game from Tshiebwe. Sound familiar? If the loss to Vanderbilt didn’t dredge up at least a few Saint Peter’s vibes — Tshiebwe had 30 points and 16 rebounds in that one, 21 and 20 in this one — you either weren’t paying attention or have suppressed that unthinkable event. But after Kentucky (20-10) had gathered so much recent momentum, this was a slap-in-the-face reminder of just how narrow the distance is between dancing and disaster.
Remember, Calipari’s club spent a couple of months last season looking like maybe the best team in college basketball, earned a 2-seed in the tournament, had Final Four dreams, then watched two teams it had previously pulverized play for the national title after the Cats face-planted against the Peacocks in the first round. Wheeler limped to the finish line last year, too. Five-star freshman TyTy Washington, the best guard on that team, never fully recovered from a late-season ankle injury. Sharpshooter Kellan Grady, it turned out, spent most of the year hobbling around on two bad feet. CJ Fredrick couldn’t help because he’d torn his hamstring in the layup line before the season opener.
It was not unreasonable to wonder whether Kentucky was cursed. It’s not unreasonable to wonder that now.
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Tshiebwe missed a month, spanning the preseason and first two games, after a minor knee surgery. Fredrick has missed multiple games with a dislocated finger and cracked rib. Wheeler has been in and out of the lineup all season with various injuries, most recently an ankle, and was set to return soon from that when it was revealed just hours before tipoff Wednesday that he required an unrelated medical procedure earlier in the day. He was “still groggy,” Calipari said, and not even in the building to be honored for senior night. Wheeler has missed seven straight games and his latest setback will likely keep him out “a couple weeks,” UK’s coach estimates — which lines up roughly with the start of the NCAA Tournament.
Thank you, Seniors 💙 pic.twitter.com/0Woztabs2D
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) March 1, 2023
The latest injury to Wallace, who has also dealt with back and knee issues this season and has shouldered a massive workload with Wheeler out, was also a jarring reminder of how valuable both point guards are to Kentucky. And how in trouble they are anytime both are unavailable.
Antonio Reeves, who had been a microwave scorer off the bench until Wheeler and Fredrick’s injuries forced him into the starting lineup, found his role once again shifted suddenly in the second half Wednesday. He was the emergency point guard, and it didn’t go great. Reeves finished 4-of-17 from the field, 1-of-8 from 3-point range, with zero assists and three turnovers, including a costly one in a tie game with 1:54 to go. He also air-balled a winning 3-point try at the buzzer.
“Cason makes a lot of plays that help many people,” Tshiebwe said, adding matter-of-factly: “Antonio is not a point guard. That boy is a wing. So when you put him in position to be point guard, it kind of messes him up a little bit. He’s gotta do too much. We’re gonna need Cason. We’re gonna need Sahvir. They’re the people who really make plays for us.”
To that end, those negative X-rays were a huge relief for the Wildcats, who rushed to see about Wallace after the game.
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“I checked with the trainer,” Tshiebwe said. “He should be good. He will be ready.”
When remains to be seen. Does it make sense for Wallace to try to gut it out Saturday at Arkansas, even if he wants to? Might it be wise to rest him for the SEC Tournament next week in Nashville, too?
Kentucky’s latest surge has solidified at least a spot in this year’s NCAA Tournament field, and everything between now and Selection Sunday is just about improving seeding, which feels less important than ever in an up-for-grabs type of season.
“We just gotta get healthy,” senior forward Jacob Toppin said. “And not even 100 percent healthy, because at this time of the year, nobody’s 100 percent. So just being able to be at 85 percent or higher, that’s good enough. He’s the toughest guy I know. He’s going to play through injuries. If he’s hurt, if he has nagging pains, he’s going to play through it because he loves the sport — but he also loves his teammates and doesn’t want to let his teammates down.
“He understands the time of year it is and understands that we need him to win games.”
No doubt about that. There are two seasons of evidence that Tshiebwe can’t do it alone, even on his best night. He delivered a double-double just in the second half Wednesday, 16 points and 11 boards playing all 20 minutes, and almost single-handedly dragged Kentucky back from an 11-point deficit. His bank shot with 1:10 left gave the Cats their only lead after intermission.
“I loved my team’s fight,” Calipari said. “They never gave in. We were short-handed, but no excuse, let’s go.”
The only problem with that was guys not named Oscar couldn’t buy a bucket. The Wildcats shot 32 percent from the field, made just 3 of 19 from 3-point range and made 25 free throws but also missed 10 in a one-possession game. Even before Wallace’s injury, Kentucky came out flat. Toppin blew a couple of assignments late in the first half and then got into a shouting match with Calipari that he apologized to the team for afterward. So shouldn’t we be sounding the alarm bells again? Kentucky’s coach and its veteran leaders all insisted not.
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For all that to go wrong in one night “and still have a chance to win the game,” Toppin said, “it just shows what type of team we are. That’s why I’m not dwelling on this loss too much. We’re going to learn from it and be able to come back stronger.”
(Photo of Oscar Tshiebwe: Andy Lyons / Getty Images)
