KT Turner discusses Kentucky's mindset towards NCAA Tournament status

Despite lots of discussion regarding the NCAA Tournament status of Kentucky over the past few months, the team has tried its best to block out the noise. UK assistant KT Turner appeared in a Tuesday press conference, where he revealed the coaches have tried to avoid bringing attention to the team’s tournament projection.

The Wildcats have found themselves in the bubble conversation of late, but did themselves a huge favor with wins against Mississippi State and Tennessee last week.

“We never talk about that, the bubble or the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “I don’t know where we’re at, but we never talk about it with the team. That’s probably something that they did amongst themselves.”

Kentucky found itself in dangerous territory among the “last four in” according to ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s projections last week. However, thanks to the pair of wins, the Wildcats moved up to a No. 8 seed in his most recent predictions.

In 14 seasons under coach John Calipari, Kentucky has missed the NCAA Tournament only twice. Although things appeared to be headed the wrong direction a couple weeks ago, it looks as if they will avoid that fate in 2022-23.

Still, the Wildcats need to finish strong in their final four regular season games to solidify their spot. That begins with a matchup against Florida at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

KT Turner provides injury updates for Florida matchup

While Kentucky played better last week, the team is still without two of their key backcourt pieces in Sahvir Wheeler and CJ Fredrick. With a trip to Florida set for Wednesday, though, assistant coach KT Turner didn’t have much as far as anything new regarding their status against the Gators.

KT Turner spoke today ahead of Kentucky’s practice and trip to Gainesville. He said the staff doesn’t know yet when it comes to Wheeler or Fredrick but that the team would obviously love to get both back in the rotation as soon as possible.

“We haven’t practiced today yet They’re working hard every day to get back. (I) just worked Sahvir out in an individual workout. So we’ll see,” said Turner. “We don’t know yet.”

“If we can just get one of them, it’d be great. If we can get two? That’d be even better,” Turner said. “Those guys bring so much just with their play, their experience, and their basketball IQ. We could definitely use either one of those guys. Would love to have both of them. (We) just can’t wait to get them back.”

Wheeler has been out for the last four games with an ankle injury he reaggravated in practice. Cason Wallace and Adou Thiero have played well in his absence. Without the senior point guard, though, the Wildcats have missed some level of experience at the position. Even in a diminished role, his averages of 7.7 points and 5.6 assists were making a difference off the bench.

As for Fredrick, he has been out since cracking a rib against Arkansas during a baseline collision. His scoring, specifically from distance, defense, and experience has also been missed with him on the sidelines.