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Kentucky point guard Sahvir Wheeler entered the NCAA transfer portal, 247Sports’ Brandon Jenkins reported Monday. Wheeler already graduated from Kentucky, so he is not impacted by the NCAA’s updated rule to cut down on two-time transfers. Wheeler has one year of eligibility remaining. He played in 21 games (14 starts) for Kentucky this season before suffering an ankle injury, which kept him out for the rest of the regular season and the postseason.
Wheeler averaged 7.7 points, 5.6 assists and 2.3 rebounds in 28.5 minutes per game.
He led the SEC with 6.9 assists per game in 2021-22 and was a second-team All-SEC selection. Wheeler was also named a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award, an award provided to the nation’s best point guard.
He spent two years at Georgia, two at Kentucky and will be on the prowl for his third school in his fifth season.
Wheeler’s Kentucky tenure was rocky. The 5-foot-9, 180-pound guard was a wizard decision-maker, but his inability to become a consistent 3-point shooter led to struggles.
Kentucky turned to Cason Wallace running the point over Wheeler. The Wildcats got outscored by 8.39 points per 100 possessions during SEC play with Wheeler in the game, according to Pivot Analysis.
But the flashes from Wheeler are hard to ignore. The lightning-quick point guard ramped up the tempo whenever he entered the game.
“Without him we don’t win this game,” said Kentucky head coach John Calipari, after the Wildcats knocked off Florida 72-67 Feb. 5. “Do you know what he did? Aside from those layups that we really needed to create a gap, he let Cason (Wallace) go do his thing. He told me, let Cason handle it. I’ll just be on the wing. That’s a teammate. That is a teammate.”
Wheeler eviscerated North Carolina for 26 points and eight assists last season, a 98-69 final in December 2021.
“What he did a year ago — I remember, we beat North Carolina,” Calipari said this season. “The way he played and what he did in that game — you can’t judge him on one game either way, that game or whatever. But you’re talking about a guy that came in here and impacted the program, defensively impacted the program. He’s been a very big part of what we’ve done the last couple of years.”
The writing was on the wall that Kentucky and Wheeler appeared to be heading toward a divorce, though. CJ Fredrick and Antonio Reeves can return to the Wildcats next season. UK also inked three guards (Robert Dillingham, DJ Wagner and Reed Sheppard) in its top-rated Class of 2023 recruiting class.
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Wheeler instantly becomes one of the most-experienced point guards in the transfer portal. Wheeler has 106 career games under his belt with more than 1,000 career points and 656 career assists.
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