Kentucky teammates go to bat for Sahvir Wheeler: "We need him in order to do something special"

On3 imageby:Zack Geoghegan01/19/23

ZGeogheganKSR

Sahvir Wheeler has been the topic of discussion around the Big Blue Nation over the last several days — mostly with critical fingers being pointed his way.

Kentucky’s starting point guard for the last season and a half sat out the Wildcats’ upset win over Tennessee this past weekend then played just 11 minutes on his birthday in the win against Georgia — his former team — on Tuesday. A shoulder injury caused his absence as Kentucky won both games, primarily rolling with the “Basketball Benny” lineup that features Cason WallaceAntonio ReevesCJ FredrickJacob Toppin, and Oscar Tshiebwe.

Those five playing together have produced wild (albeit unsustainable) numbers across a growing sample size. Wheeler played under a minute in the second half of Kentucky’s comeback win over Georgia, leading to a 51-29 advantage in favor of the ‘Cats over those final 20 minutes. It didn’t take long after that for the outside narrative to shift almost entirely against Wheeler. Many have unfairly pointed to his team-worst -9 in the plus/minus category, which is hardly an indication about one individual player, especially in such a small, one-game sample size.

But there is no denying Kentucky has played at its best this season of late with the five-man lineup of Wallace, Reeves, Fredrick, Toppin, and Tshiebwe. Having three shooters on the floor at the same time opens up just enough additional space to make life that much easier for someone like Tshiebwe — who dropped a historic 37 points and 24 rebounds against Georgia — inside the paint. It’s only been two games, but the early returns have been overwhelmingly positive with those five in the game.

At 5-foot-9, Wheeler has clear limitations, but he gets his teammates involved and is a constant pest on defense. What happens if Wallace — who continues to foul at a high rate — gets tagged with two quick fouls three minutes into an SEC game on the road? Wallace can’t play all 40 minutes every single game, whether he’s dealing with foul trouble or not.

Wheeler simply gives head coach John Calipari another capable guard option that can confidently run the show. For all the love surrounding freshman Adou Thiero, he’s not ready for that kind of responsibility just yet. Wheeler has clear value.

If anyone knows how much Kentucky needs Wheeler to come back from his injury playing at a high level, it’s the people who know him better than most: his teammates.

“Really important. I know a lot of people are talking bad about him but this team is nothing without Sahvir,” Jacob Toppin said during Thursday’s pre-Texas A&M press conference. “He does a lot for us, whether he’s starting or coming off the bench. He brings a lot of energy to this team and he changes the pace of the game on the offensive end, he defends very well even though he’s small. He fights, he’s tough, so all the negative comments about him could go out the window. He’s really important to this team and we need him in order to do something special.

“The media always tries to back someone against the wall, bring somebody down, and like I said, it can take a toll on somebody’s mental. And a lot of people don’t know what we go through behind the scenes so I just want to make it aware that he’s really important to this team and without him, this team wouldn’t be anything. So I just wanted everyone to know that.

Wheeler’s impact on this team goes beyond what happens on the hardwood, too. He’s a four-year SEC veteran with 101 games played under his belt — that’s a level of experience no other player on the roster can claim. If he’s seen it once, he’s seen it several times. Perhaps he needs a slightly reduced role from his 31.0 minutes per game (second-most on the team behind Tshiebwe), but Wheeler’s overall value shouldn’t be determined off two games in which he only played one half on a bum shoulder.

“He’s really important. He runs the show for us offensively and he’s like the head of the snake defensively,” Kentucky freshman Chris Livingston said about Wheeler. “We’re looking forward to getting him back in the lineup, getting his minutes back up, cause we’re gonna need him throughout the course of the season. So I’m really looking forward to him being back.

“Sah is just an amazing teammate. He was coaching us like he out there playing in the Tennessee game, talking to me, especially talking to Cason since Cason had the job of being the point guard. He’s a vocal leader, he’s someone that we need for this team. He really did his part when he didn’t play, bringing energy on the bench. That was very needed.”

The most important step for Wheeler will be to get healthy, but also to tune out the noise, which can be tough for college students in the age of social media. His teammates have made it clear they have his back though. They firmly believe Wheeler is a necessary part of this team reaching its loftiest goals come March.

“That’s the thing about it, we try to stay away from it, but obviously we’re gonna get moments where we see all the negative things and sometimes we can’t stay away from it,” Toppin said. “And obviously you have your own mind, you have that little voice in your head that’s trying to feed negative things to you. So we gotta really try to stay away from all the negative comments but that’s what we’re here for. We’re here to stick through it for one another, we’re here for each other, and Sahvir knows we’re here for him. And everyone else knows we’re here for them as well.”

Discuss This Article

Comments have moved.

Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.

KSBoard

2024-03-28