Cason Wallace coming along as Kentucky's co-starting point guard
Had it not been for Cason Wallace, Kentucky very well could have lost on Wednesday night.
In the second half of the Wildcats’ 88-68 win over Florida A&M, Wallace assumed the primary point guard duties. He poured in 20 points on 8-11 shooting in 19 out of a possible 20 minutes. The freshman star connected on four of his five shots from beyond the arc, dished out four assists, and swiped away a pair of steals after halftime. Wallace scored the first seven points for Kentucky out of the intermission as the game was still in the balance.
With Sahvir Wheeler, UK’s usual starting point guard, only playing six minutes in the second half, it was Wallace who was given the keys to drive the Wildcats’ offense. But not only that, Wallace was a constant pest on the defensive end. It was his best night as a ‘Cat so far.
“He’s a two-way player. To find a young player — a freshman — that plays that way on both ends is really impressive,” Florida A&M head coach Robert McCullum said after his team’s loss. “Normally, for young players, it takes a while to get them to buy in on defense, but he plays on both ends.
“He can hurt you in so many ways offensively. He can get to the basket, he can get his shot off the dribble, and he can catch and shoot. Then you look at his size. Small guards are going to have a lot of difficulty trying to guard him.”
Going up against one of the worst teams in all of Division I men’s basketball in Florida A&M, Kentucky head coach John Calipari had the ability to try out a multitude of lineups. 11 different Wildcats saw the floor on Wednesday night, with eight of them playing at least 15 minutes. For the majority of the second half, Calipari elected to roll with Wallace at the point instead of Wheeler.
Why? He was knocking down big shots.
“He made shots tonight. We’ve got to keep working with him as he plays point,” Calipari said postgame. “Decision-making, seeing the court better. What he did today is he made shots so you couldn’t go under on the pick-and-roll. He dings a ball in. But he’s a terrific player.”
Earlier in the week, Calipari mentioned the oft-used word, “tweak”, to describe some changes he’s making in practice moving forward. Wallace revealed after the game that part of the tweak is getting him more involved with all aspects of the offense.
“One of those is me getting downhill, being more aggressive, and creating for others,” Wallace said after the win. “Not just looking for my shot but making sure everybody else gets a shot up as well.”
When the game was over, Wallace finished with a record-setting stat line: a career-high 27 points, a career-high tying nine assists, and a career-high tying four steals. He became the first player under Calipari, according to UK statistician Corey Price, to record those numbers in a Kentucky uniform. Wallace shot 10-15 overall from the floor, including a 5-4 clip from long range, in 31 total minutes.
The main reason he was able to post such incredible numbers was in part because of who wasn’t playing alongside him. Wallace and Wheeler have spent most of the season sharing the backcourt together, and that was the case throughout the first half. However, Calipari switched things up with Kentucky struggling at times against Florida A&M. He stuck with just the one point guard and stuck him with all the responsibilities.
The lineup move helped propel Kentucky to a victory in the second half.
“We thought they were more effective when Wheeler wasn’t in the game,” Coach McCullum said.
Wheeler was subbed out for the final time at the 7:55 mark of the second half. At the time, Kentucky was ahead by 10 after giving up a 21-point advantage a few minutes earlier. From there, with Wallace as PG1, UK ran off a game-clinching 19-9 run to finish off the win.
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