Kentucky players reveal which other sport helped them the most in their basketball careers

Before Kentucky stars Oscar Tshiebwe, Sahvir Wheeler and Kellan Grady blossomed into national championship contenders on the hardwood, the trio spent a large part of their early lives playing other sports — and for that, they say they’re grateful, as it helped them develop into better people and athletes.

For Tshiebwe, it was soccer. And after a youth soccer career, he focused on basketball, eventually developing into a four-star recruit, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. Now, Tshiebwe has blossomed into the SEC Player of the Year at Kentucky, hoping to lead the Wildcats to the ultimate team prize.

“I would say soccer helped me because I played goalie and I was back on defense. Soccer helped me to move my feet and catch a ball. I was goalie, and you’ve got to be able to catch the ball when somebody trying to kick and score. You’ve got to jump,” Tshiebwe said. “In basketball, that’s why every time I go for a rebound, I just go with two hands and snatch the ball. And it helped me a lot move my feet, because you’ve got to move your feet to stop people in defense. That really helped me with basketball today.”

Wheeler, like Tshiebwe, was a bit of a soccer player too growing up. However, Wheeler played both soccer and baseball in his early years, eventually committing to Kentucky as a four-star recruit out of Houston, Texas.

“I played soccer as well and a little baseball. Soccer, it was my endurance because I think that’s one of my gifts that I have naturally. Some people are naturally gifted, they can run and jump. And I think one of my gifts is my speed and my endurance, being able to play for long stretches,” Wheeler said. “And I think that ultimately came with soccer. So being out there, playing for hours and hours,” Wheeler said. “And I played baseball, too. So anticipation of where the ball is going to go when the guy hits it, being able to move your feet at the same time.”

Grady, also a former four-star recruit before his commitment to Kentucky, echoed the thoughts of Tshiebwe and Wheeler — having played both soccer and baseball growing up, he believes he’s a better athlete because of it.

“I played soccer, baseball. I was a swimmer as well,” Grady said. “I’m not going to sit here and credit all my past experience in sports to why I’m pretty good at basketball. I guess I resonate with all the things Sahvir said as well.”