John Calipari explains impact Sahvir Wallace's absence had in SEC Tournament

Kentucky is one of the teams that has had the unfortunate distinction of having multiple key players banged up down the stretch. Sahvir Wheeler has been out since Feb. 4 against Florida and it’s unclear if or when he might return.

Coach John Calipari knows there’s danger either way; the Wildcats are certainly better with Wheeler but his return now could disrupt lineup flow.

Calipari saw the latter firsthand in the SEC Tournament when Cason Wallace jumped back into the lineup after missing the regular season finale.

“It hurt us today with Cason,” Caliapari said. “Cason not playing, that’s what happens when you’re trying to plug guys in at this time of the year.”

For the long-time Kentucky coach, reintroducing Sahvir Wheeler to the lineup will be a process.

“He went through some practice stuff the other day,” Calipari said. “So I think he’s getting closer. Hopefully he’s going to be able to give us some minutes. Again, you’re not going to play 30 minutes, but he can give us minutes, just like CJ (Fredrick) gave us minutes down in Arkansas.”

Kentucky fell to Vanderbilt 80-73 on Friday night, ending the run at the SEC Tournament for the Wildcats. Calipari expressed some frustration afterward about the pacing of the game.

For one, he didn’t have a great opportunity to substitute players for one long stretch.

“I tried to sub the group. The game didn’t stop for nine minutes,” Calipari said. “I mean, I’m like… I was going to call a timeout. I said, What in the world? It didn’t stop, so… Whether it be Cason or Oscar (Tshiebwe). But again, it was a roughhouse game. A lot of grabbing. It’s the way the game was played.”

That’s not to say Calipari was blaming the lineup rotation on the loss, though. The Wildcats just didn’t make enough plays when given the opportunity.

Vanderbilt did.

“We had some guys not make plays,” Calipari said. “I don’t want to say they were tired, but those are plays we’re capable of making. We got it to three. I mean, we had a wide-open three to get it to one. They made the three at the shot clock, two at the shot clock. They played for their lives. They’re an NCAA tournament team now.”