Kentucky to honor 1996, 1997 and 1998 basketball teams Saturday against Tennessee

Three of the greatest Kentucky basketball teams of all time will be honored at halftime when the Wildcats take on Tennessee inside Rupp Arena Saturday afternoon. Tubby Smith, who coached UK in 1998, revelaed the news during a call-in to John Calipari’s radio show.

The 1996 team featured nine future NBA players led by Tony Delk and Antoine Walker. They finished with a 34-2 overall record, a 16-0 SEC regular season record and a national championship. The 1997 team earned a 35-5 overall record but fell short of the national title after losing to Arizona in overtime.

The 1998 team saw a changing of the guard from Rick Pitino to Tubby Smith, who picked up right where Pitino left off and earned Kentucky its seventh national championship in program history. They’ve only won it all one time since.

Tip-off between UK and the Vols is set for 1 p.m. ET Saturday afternoon live on ESPN. Kentucky took down Tennessee 63-56 earlier this season in Knoxville, and will be looking to sweep the season series with a full house of Kentucky legends.

John Calipari gives troubling injury update on CJ Fredrick, Sahvir Wheeler

According to a report from KSR‘s Drew Franklin, Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari gave some troubling injury news ahead of the team’s Wednesday night game versus Mississippi State. On his radio show, Calipari revealed that guards CJ Fredrickand Sahvir Wheeler both did not participate in the team’s practice on Monday.

The duo both did not play in Kentucky’s most recent game, a loss to Georgia, and their presence missing again would make the Wildcats’ backcourt thin once again amid their two-game losing skid. 

Both Wheeler and Fredrick are averaging seven points per game for the Wildcats, and Wheeler’s playmaking presence would surely be missed once again, as he leads the team and the conference in assists per game with 5.6. Both Wheeler and Fredrick have been in and out of Kentucky’s starting lineup all season, but prior to missing the team’s last gave versus Georgia, Fredrick had made eight consecutive starts for the Wildcats. 

Wheeler has been battling an ankle injury he suffered at practice that has caused him to miss the team’s last two games, while Fredrick injured his ribs on a layup attempt versus Florida that he played through for the rest of that game and the next versus Arkansasbefore being shut down versus Georgia.