LEXINGTON, Ky. — You have to go back to Dec. 12 to find the last time Kentucky lost a men’s basketball game with the top seven players on its roster available for the entire contest.
Since falling 66-62 at Notre Dame in December, John Calipari’s No. 4 Wildcats (21-5, 10-3 SEC) have lost only three times — all on the road vs. ranked SEC opponents.
In each of those defeats, the Wildcats were compromised by in-game injuries.
During UK’s 65-60 loss at then-No. 21 LSU on Jan. 4, the Wildcats lost starting point guard Sahvir Wheeler after four minutes to a neck injury. The Cats also did not have their other primary ball handler, freshman star TyTy Washington, down the stretch of that game due to cramping.
When Kentucky fell 80-71 at No. 2 Auburn on Jan. 22, an ankle injury sidelined Washington after only nine minutes — and with UK up nine points.
And when the Wildcats were dismantled 76-63 Tuesday night by No. 16 Tennessee in Knoxville, Washington was again limited to 13 minutes of court time by an ankle injury he had originally suffered in the preceding game vs. Florida.
If that weren’t enough concern for UK backers, Wheeler appeared to end the UT game holding his wrist. Afterward, Kentucky coach John Calipari said he did not know the nature of any injury potentially suffered by Wheeler.
Meanwhile, Calipari second-guessed his decision to play Washington at all. “If I had to do it over, I would not have played TyTy — I shouldn’t have played him,” Calipari said.
Based on how things have gone for Kentucky in SEC play, the big question facing the Wildcats as the 2022 NCAA Tournament nears is whether they can keep the seven players atop their playing rotation healthy long enough to make a deep run.
So far this season in Southeastern Conference action, Kentucky has had the top seven players in Calipari’s playing rotation available for complete games only five times out of 13 contests.
After his neck injury, Wheeler missed full games vs. Georgia and at Vanderbilt.
His first ankle malady knocked Washington out of the Mississippi State game.
An ankle injury suffered at South Carolina limited key front-court reserve Jacob Toppin to six minutes in that game and kept him out of the following contest vs. Florida.
Put it all together, and UK has not had its full complement of players available for entire games for more than three straight contests at any point in SEC play.
You will note, it still takes six consecutive victories (or seven starting from the First Four) to win the NCAA championship.
Guys, obviously, are not trying to get hurt, so Kentucky’s primary problem this year is not anyone’s fault. Nevertheless, as we look ahead to March Madness, the injury-filled nature of the UK season should be concerning for Cats backers on two different planes.
Part of what has made the 2021-22 Cats one of the more enjoyable teams of the Calipari era is that the whole is greater than the parts.
The vulnerability for a team with such highly defined roles is that any subtraction from the core players can serve to undermine the rest of the unit.
As we saw Tuesday night at Tennessee, when Washington is sidelined, Kentucky lacks a player who can consistently create their own shot against tight defensive pressure.
That can put stress on Wheeler to have “to try to do too much” and also makes it easier for defenders to lock down UK’s designated 3-point threat, Kellan Grady.
The other concern is that “the book” on defending Kentucky has become play the Wildcats as physically as the officiating will allow.
After UK obliterated Kansas 80-62 in Allen Fieldhouse in an up-tempo, free-flowing game late last month, coaches figured out that allowing Kentucky freedom of movement was a recipe for getting embarrassed.
Starting with Jerry Stackhouse and Vanderbilt in the ensuing game, the plan against UK has subsequently been to deploy muscle against the Cats.
Tennessee was especially effective with that approach Tuesday night, the Volunteers’ guards pushing Kentucky well out of its offensive comfort zone.
The big-picture downside for Kentucky in the way opponents have chosen to defend the Wildcats is that a steady succession of ultra-physical games would seem to heighten the risks of injury for a UK team that has already proven brittle.
Now, if you are an optimist, your hope is that UK is getting its full season’s allotment of injuries out of the way early and is due a period of protracted health down the stretch.
Yet based on how SEC play has gone, the worrisome thing for the Big Blue Nation is that there’s been no evidence that UK can keep all its best players on the floor for the six-game run it will take to win it all.
What makes that thought especially frustrating is this reality:
As the 2021-22 regular season enters the homestretch, it seems clear that if Kentucky has all its top players healthy and playing, then the Wildcats are as good as any team in men’s college basketball.
