John Calipari Suggests One-Guard Lineup if Wheeler, Fredrick Remain Unavailable Against Mississippi State
Kentucky basketball faces a must-win road game on Wednesday night, taking on the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville.
The game comes four days after the Wildcats' latest blunder — a 75-68 loss in Athens to the Georgia Bulldogs. The defeat dropped UK's record to 16-9 (7-5 SEC) while simultaneously removing it from the latest projections of the 68-team field in the NCAA Tournament.
While the loss stands as disappointing for the Cats regardless, it did come with some reason, as both point guard Sahvir Wheeler and shooting guard CJ Fredrick were out due to injury.
Wheeler went down in practice with an ankle injury last week, causing him to miss both losses to Arkansas and UGA. Fredrick ran into a cameraman in UK's win over Florida, ultimately leading to a cracked rib. He played through the pain against Arkansas, but was unavailable Saturday.
Following the disappointing defeat inside Stegeman Coliseum, Calipari told Tom Leach on UK's postgame radio show that he had "no idea" if either player would be ready for the trip to Starkville.
On Monday night, Calipari said during his call-in radio show that neither Wheeler nor Fredrick practiced on Monday.
“We’ll see about tomorrow," he told Leach.
Without Wheeler, freshman Adou Thiero had to play 15 minutes in the first half, which proved to be a bit much. That came as a result of starting PG Cason Wallace picking up two fouls early in the half. Calipari said the original plan was for Thiero to play just "10 or 12" minutes.
No Fredrick put a heavy load on the shoulders of fellow SG Antonio Reeves, as the Illinois State transfer played all 40 minutes on Saturday — the first time he's done so in his UK career.
Despite scoring 20 points and collecting six rebounds, Reeves admitted postgame that being on the court too much took a toll on his legs.
"I feel like my legs were kind of getting tired," he said. "Playing 40 minutes is tough for anybody, to be honest. I think that me being out there too much, it got a toll on my legs."
To try and remedy that, Calipari suggested on Monday night that the Wildcats could play with just one guard one the floor at times on Wednesday.
"We could play with one guard. We could play Jacob (Toppin) at the three," he said.
Moving Toppin — a traditional '4' — up a spot would in-turn do the same to freshman forward Chris Livingston, who has flip-flopped from the '3' and '4' spot for a good chunk of the season.
Opening up another spot in the paint would lead to more minutes for either Daimion Collins, Lance Ware or Ugonna Onyenso.
Collins has played his way into the rotation over the past two weeks, filling in for Oscar Tshiebwe when he'd on the bench. Collins played just eight minutes in Athens over the weekend.
Calipari went on to say that he realized he needs to play Ware and Onyenso more. The one-guard lineup would allow for that to happen. Neither big man has played much as of late, with Ware last appearing at Ole Miss on Jan. 31, and Onyenso playing one minute on Jan. 21 against Texas A&M.
The realizations from the Hall of Famer could lead to some funky lineups inside Humphrey Coliseum on Wednesday night, especially if Wheeler and Fredrick are again unable to suit up.
Tipoff between Kentucky and Mississippi State is s et for 8:30 p.m. EST. The game will air on the SEC Network.
More on Mississippi State HERE.
More on what lies ahead for Kentucky HERE.
More on the loss to Georgia HERE.
Game notes from the defeat can be found HERE.
WATCH: John Calipari speaks after loss to UGA.
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