Could Shaedon Sharpe answer UK basketball's injury problem? 'He's stepped on the gas'

LEXINGTON — John Calipari has no sympathy for anyone with money riding on Kentucky basketball's Tuesday game versus Mississippi State waiting for an injury update on Wildcat guards TyTy Washington and Sahvir Wheeler.

"You want me to give out a scouting report for the other guy we’re playing? They may play, they may not play," Calipari said Monday night on his radio show. "If you’re a gambler, you’re mad. 'I need to know before I put that money down.'"

Both Washington and Wheeler were sidelined by injuries in Kentucky's Saturday loss at Auburn. While Calipari declined to provide an update on either player's status for Tuesday's game, he did say UK spent part of practice Monday with Davion Mintz and Kellan Grady playing point guard.

ESPN reported Tuesday afternoon that Washington would not play against the Bulldogs and his status for Saturday's game at Kansas was "to be determined"

"It’s like, OK, you went from a running quarterback to a drop-back quarterback," Calipari said. "We’ve got to change things up a little bit, like how we’re playing."

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How TyTy Washington and Sahvir Wheeler were injured

Kentucky lead 25-16 after Washington drilled a floater with 8:21 left in the first half, but the freshman guard landed awkwardly after that shot, rolling his left ankle.

Washington needed the assistance of a trainer and teammate to limp off the court. While CBS cameras showed him limping to the locker room under his own power in the ensuing timeout, UK announced at halftime he would not return to the game.

Kentucky trailed by just four points after Wheeler was sidelined by a collision on a blindside screen eerily similar to the one that cost him most of three games after the LSU neck injury. Wheeler returned to the game just less than three minutes later, but by that point, Auburn had stretched a four-point lead to 10 points with 8:41 remaining.

Wheeler's game was eventually ended by another collision with an Auburn defender with 1:14 remaining.

Kentucky forward Oscar Tshiebwe apologized to Wheeler Monday for not properly warning him of the screen, Calipari said.

"He said, ‘Sahvir, I thought I was yelling watch smack, watch the smack, but I watched the video and I didn’t say it. If I did, it wasn’t loud enough. I apologize, it won’t happen again.’" Calipari said. "…He took responsibility. Then I told him if anybody smacks him again, you’re going to smack them. You give them a screen, a block-out, something else. Let them know you’re not doing that to my team. Not a fistfight or anything like that, but you got to let them know you’re not doing that to my teammate."

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Could Shaedon Sharpe play against Mississippi State?

If Washington and Wheeler are not able to play Tuesday, that would leave Mintz and Grady as the only guards from the primary rotation available to face the Bulldogs. Forward Bryce Hopkins, who plays the majority of his scant minutes on the wing, and guard Dontaie Allen combined for three minutes at Auburn.

The injuries have upped the speculation that Shaedon Sharpe, the former No. 1-ranked prospect in the class of 2022 who graduated high school early to enroll at UK earlier this month, might make his college debut.

Calipari said Sharpe practiced with the team Monday but stopped short of saying he would play in games anytime soon.

"He’s just got to get a lot of reps in," Calipari said. "I’m trying to get him more reps. We did stuff today. If he plays, you’ve got to say we’re only doing these two or three things. He’s only been here a couple weeks. ... You better do some really simple stuff and let him do what he does.

"What does he do? Scores the ball. So, you say, you won’t believe this but if you get in, score the ball. That’s if we choose to play him. I’m not sure yet what we’ll do.”

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ESPN reported last week that Sharpe was in fact eligible to apply for early entry into the 2022 NBA draft despite an earlier report from the website last year that he was not. Calipari later said Sharpe still plans to play for Kentucky next season, but the report has raised fears the 6-foot-6, 200-pound guard could turn pro before ever playing for the Wildcats.

Calipari has repeatedly said he will protect Sharpe by avoiding playing him only because the team needs another body if he is not ready for meaningful contributions in games.

"You got to understand the pace of the game, you’ve got to understand the assignments, the defensive schemes, the timing on offense," UK associate coach Orlando Antigua said earlier Monday. "The other four players that would be on the court with him ... what kind of synergy they have. And that takes time to build. You get some game slippage when you go from practice to games.

"When you’re this far along in the season, it’s really hard to try to throw somebody into it if they’re not really ready for it. Would not only put the kid in position to maybe do harm to himself, but also to our team if it’s not at the right timing."

Asked by a caller why he didn't play Sharpe at Auburn after Washington and Wheeler were sidelined, Calipari insisted he would have if he felt Sharpe was ready to contribute.

"But he’s not ready yet," Calipari said.

If Calipari hoped to lessen the hype for Sharpe with that comment, he likely ruined any progress toward that goal with his final comment on the freshman guard though.

"The last couple days he’s stepped on the gas a little bit and done some things," Calipari said. "I think our team would like me to put him in. We’re doing stuff and something happens in practice, he does something, they all kind of look at me like, 'Come on now, If that’s who he is, put him in.'"

Email Jon Hale at jahale@courier-journal.com; Follow him on Twitter at @JonHale_CJ.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Shaedon Sharpe: Hype growing for Kentucky basketball freshman