Kentucky basketball will be without starting guard against Ole Miss

After finding a period of stability with the same starting lineup in five straight games, the Kentucky Wildcats will be forced to shuffle things again due to injury.

Freshman guard Cason Wallace — who has played and started in all 21 games for UK this season — will miss Tuesday night’s game for Kentucky at Ole Miss.

On UK’s pregame radio show, Wildcats’ head coach John Calipari said Wallace would miss the game with a knee injury. Calipari referred to the injury as a “knee contusion.”

Calipari said Wallace practiced with Kentucky on Monday, but the injury surfaced on Tuesday during the team’s shootaround.

In Wallace’s place, senior guard Sahvir Wheeler will slide into the Kentucky starting lineup. Calipari also said freshman Adou Thiero will serve as UK’s backup point guard against Ole Miss.

Entering Tuesday’s game, Wallace was one of three UK players — along with senior transfer guard Antonio Reeves and freshman forward Chris Livingston — to play in every game for the Cats this season.

Wallace was averaging more than 31 minutes played per game, and was shooting 40% from three-point range. Wallace had per-game averages of 11.3 points, 3.62 assists and 3.62 rebounds. Wallace averaged more than 31 minutes played per game for Kentucky this season.

Wallace only played eight minutes earlier this month during UK’s home loss to South Carolina due to a back injury, which kept him out for the entirety of the second half. Wallace did return for UK’s next game, a road win at Tennessee.

Game-by-game Kentucky starting lineups

Here’s a look at the starting lineups that UK has used for all 22 games so far in the 2022-23 season.

The Cats have used nine different starting combinations.

Howard: Cason Wallace, CJ Fredrick, Chris Livingston, Jacob Toppin, Lance Ware.

Duquesne: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Ware.

Michigan State: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Ware.

South Carolina State: Sahvir Wheeler, Wallace, Fredrick, Toppin, Ware.

Gonzaga: Wheeler, Wallace, Fredrick, Toppin, Oscar Tshiebwe.

North Florida: Wheeler, Wallace, Antonio Reeves, Toppin, Tshiebwe.

Bellarmine: Wheeler, Wallace, Reeves, Toppin, Tshiebwe.

Michigan: Wheeler, Wallace, Reeves, Toppin, Tshiebwe.

Yale: Wheeler, Wallace, Reeves, Toppin, Tshiebwe.

UCLA: Wheeler, Wallace, Reeves, Toppin, Tshiebwe.

Florida A&M: Wheeler, Wallace, Livingston, Ware, Tshiebwe.

Missouri: Wheeler, Wallace, Livingston, Ware, Tshiebwe.

Louisville: Wheeler, Wallace, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.

LSU: Wheeler, Wallace, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.

Alabama: Wheeler, Wallace, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.

South Carolina: Wheeler, Wallace, Livingston, Collins, Tshiebwe.

Tennessee: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.

Georgia: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.

Texas A&M: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.

Vanderbilt: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.

Kansas: Wallace, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.

Ole Miss: Wheeler, Fredrick, Livingston, Toppin, Tshiebwe.

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