While working the telecast of Kentucky’s 78-66 victory at Vanderbilt on Tuesday, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said Sahvir Wheeler will be returning to a better UK team than he left a week earlier.
John Calipari did not dispute that opinion.
When asked if Wheeler’s absence could be helpful in the long term, the UK coach said, “What it does is it tells me we’ve got a second guy to put in pick-and-rolls and scoring opportunities.”
That second guy is freshman TyTy Washington. He contributed 15 points to go with four assists and three turnovers.
Although Wheeler has the third-best assist average in Division I (7.3 per game), Washington left Vanderbilt with a slightly better assist-to-turnover ratio: 2.7-to-1 versus 2.5-to-1.
When Wheeler returns, Washington can make point guard-like contributions while playing the shooting guard position.
“If I had my druthers, I’d like to be playing three guards,” Calipari said. “That’s how I like to coach.”
Davion Mintz started in Wheeler’s spot. Against Georgia on Saturday, Jacob Toppin had started.
Keion Brooks suggested Wheeler might enjoy sharing point guard responsibilities.
“It’ll take some of the load off of him to do so much,” Brooks said of Wheeler. “What he does is exceptional … . But he can’t play the whole game every single game.”
Playing time
UK basically played a six-man rotation — Oscar Tshiebwe, Wheeler, Washington, Brooks, Toppin and Mintz.
Freshman Bryce Hopkins played 15 minutes.
“We need Bryce,” Calipari said. “But I can’t accept him going in a game and the game is faster than him.”
Calipari also said he wants to play backup “bigs” Lance Ware and Daimion Collins more.
“But we’ve got a core group that’s playing pretty good, and has played good for a while,” the UK coach said..
Calipari said he intended to play Ware and Dontaie Allen in the final minutes. “If we had finished the game right, they would have gotten in at the end.
‘Super disappointed’
Because of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, Vanderbilt is limiting how much time its students can spend outside their residences. One of the activities prohibited until at least near the end of the month is attending sporting events.
When asked Monday about students not attending the game against Kentucky, Vanderbilt Coach Jerry Stackhouse said, “Oh, man, we’re super disappointed about that. It’s unfortunate timing with what’s going on with this virus (and) these rivalry games we have coming up.”
Vanderbilt students will also not be attending the Commodores’ Jan. 18 game against Tennessee.
While disappointed, Stackhouse suggested that safety must come first.
“We’re going to continue to trust in our leadership and trust the experts …,” he said. “I got a couple emails from students. And I feel their pain. I absolutely do. … We’re going to try to do something special for them whenever they’re allowed back.
“Right now, it’s more important to keep our student body safe.”
Really bothered
Before the game, UK talked about forcing Scotty Pippen Jr. to take “tough twos” rather than open threes. He made six of 11 three-point shots, was 11-for-18 overall, and finished with 32 points.
Of this failure to execute, the UK coach said, “That kind of stuff really bothers me.”
Vandy is dandy
Calipari’s record against Vandy improved to 22-4. That’s the most victories he has had against any school in his coaching career. The next highest totals are 20 victories against both Florida (20-9) and Georgia (20-3).
Kentucky defeated Vandy for an 11th straight time. That is easily UK’s longest active winning streak against any SEC opponent.
The next longest? Two in a row against Texas A&M.
UK’s longest active losing streak against an SEC opponent is two straight against Alabama.
Ranked foes
Vandy was not relevant to UK’s 0-2 record against ranked teams this season. The losses were against then-No. 9 Duke and then-No. 21 LSU.
Kentucky will get another chance to beat a ranked team in Saturday’s game against No. 22 Tennessee.
Stackhouse’s record against ranked teams fell to 1-7 as Vandy coach. Vandy’s all-time record against ranked teams fell to 97-249.
Looking ahead
Vandy was UK’s fourth SEC opponent. Heading into Tuesday, those opponents had an overall record of 35-23. That included LSU at 14-1.
Kentucky’s next five opponents had an overall record of 59-13. In chronological order, that’s Tennessee (10-4), at Texas A&M (13-2), at Auburn (14-1), Mississippi State (10-4) and at Kansas (13-2 going after beating Iowa State on Tuesday night).
Looking further ahead
The gambling site BetOnline.ag has made Auburn a 7-4 favorite to win the SEC championship. Kentucky is the second choice at 7-2.
Three of UK’s first four conference opponents have the longest odds of winning the SEC championship. That’s Vandy at 80-1 (South Carolina had the same odds), Missouri at 250-1 and Georgia at 300-1.
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