As Kentucky puts the finishing touches on the regular season, head coach John Calipari would like to see his offense performing with high efficiency. And he got just that on Tuesday night as the Cats won their regular season home finale by topping Ole Miss 83-72.
Kentucky’s offense ran like a fine-tuned machine against the Rebels, largely due to solid point guard play from junior Sahvir Wheeler. Starting for the first time in three games, Wheeler dished out seven assists while turning the ball over just twice. Overall, Kentucky had a solid assist-to-turnover ratio in the game. UK had 18 assists compared with just eight turnovers, a ratio of nearly 3-to-1. Until late in the game, UK was running at a 4-to-1 clip.
In addition to Wheeler’s solid effort, freshman TyTy Washington Jr. had four assists and just one turnover, and Davion Mintz had two assists and no turnovers.
Taking care of the ball and sharing with teammates led to Kentucky shooting a high percentage from the field as well. The Cats hit 33 of 55 field goals (60.0 percent) for the game. That includes six of 14 (42.9 percent) from behind the arc.
Calipari likes his point guard and thinks that he affects the game more than any other player at his position in the country.
“Sahvir, of all the point guards who are going for the Cousy Award, I need to see one that has a bigger impact on the game than him, both defensively and offensively,” Calipari said. “Creating shots, playing with speed, the pace of the game is what he dictates, smart. But then disruptive defensively.”
All of this despite almost always being the smallest player on the floor.
“You say, well, he’s small. Yeah, but how disruptive — they were pushing off to get it up the court,” Calipari said. “So, I’m proud of him.”
As for Wheeler, he was glad to be back in his familiar role of running the team, after missing some time with a wrist injury.
“I got some of that rust off, getting in rhythm, scrimmaging and practicing,” Wheeler said. “Getting some extra time, shooting and handling the ball, doing different passes. Making sure I feel comfortable with my wrist and obviously with the rushes being off during that time, playing in a week in a half or so. Running is vital for what we do as a team, so I feel like when all that clicked back in space, I felt really good.”
Wheeler and Washington get each other going in the practice gym, according to the freshman.
“With Sahvir, we’ll be in the gym together a lot, we both motivate each other,” Washington said. “We’re both be in there trash talking each other because we know at the end of the day, we want the best for each other. So, the more reps we get into together and just staying constant will always help.”
The Cats also showed great balance in Tuesday’s win. Kentucky had four players in double figures, led by Oscar Tshiebwe who had 18 points to go with 15 rebounds. Wheeler had 16 points to go with his seven assists, while Washington had 14 points. Keion Brooks Jr. had 10.
An efficient, balanced Kentucky team will be tough to handle in the postseason. They certainly were at Rupp Arena on Tuesday night.
