Will Wheeler or Fredrick be back soon? John Calipari "has no idea."

Clearly, Kentucky Basketball missed Sahvir Wheeler and CJ Fredrick at Georgia today and Cason Wallace struggled mightily in picking up the slack in a thin backcourt. If the former were available, it may be a different outcome; although, it’s far from a certainty because Kentucky was that bad.

CJ Fredrick’s injury is reportedly a cracked rib suffered during his fall behind the basket in the game against Florida a week ago when he landed directly onto a photographer’s camera. Sources told KSR Fredrick intends to return before the season ends, but it’s unclear when he will be comfortable enough to play again. He gave it a go last Tuesday night but wasn’t ready to compete at a high level versus Arkansas.

“He had rib problems today. His ribs were bothering him,” Calipari said Tuesday night. “His ribs were — he’s another one that probably should not have played, and you could see that he was hurting the whole time. But he was giving everything he had.”

Sahvir Wheeler’s absence was his second in a row, but most of the fan base expected to see him play against his old school until Calipari announced minutes before tipoff that Wheeler was a no-go. He is recovering from an ankle injury suffered in Monday’s practice.

It is unclear when either player will return to the lineup to help in the daunting task of building an NCAA Tournament-worthy resume in the six remaining games. In fact, when asked if Fredrick or Wheeler will be available this coming Wednesday night for Kentucky’s road trip to Mississippi State, Calipari could only reply, “I have no idea. No idea whatsoever.”

We know.

“We’re short-handed, so let’s figure it out.”

More on Kentucky’s injury report as the season winds down.

In Calipari’s postgame press conference, he brought up the injury bug, saying, “Being short-handed, I mean, I know that will be said publicly around the nation. Well, they got two guys out. No it won’t, but that’s OK.”

But then in his radio comments, he seemed to have a different tone about the injuries and placing any blame on players being unavailable because moments after he used the injuries as an excuse, which he’s also said about the South Carolina game, he told Tom Leach, “We’re short-handed, so let’s figure it out. I got to figure it out. I can’t say well, that’s why we lost.”

Hear Calipari’s entire postgame press conference.