Sahvir Wheeler, CJ Fredrick OUT for Kentucky Against Mississippi State

Kentucky is entering enemy territory shorthanded for the second game in a row, as its NCAA Tournament hopes remain on the brink.

STARKVILLE, Miss. — For the second game in a row, Kentucky basketball will be critically shorthanded on the road. 

Both point guard Sahvir Wheeler (ankle) and shooting guard CJ Fredrick (ribs) will not play on Wednesday night in the Wildcats' SEC battle against Mississippi State. It's the third game in a row that Wheeler has missed and the second for Fredrick. 

The injuries once again leave coach John Calipari with just three options at guard. Both Wheeler and Fredrick were sorely missed in UK's 75-68 loss at Georgia, resulting in added minutes for veteran SG Antonio Reeves and freshman guard Adou Thiero. 

Without Wheeler, Thiero had to play 15 minutes as the backup PG in the first half, which proved to be a bit much. That came as a result of starting PG Cason Wallace picking up two fouls early in the half. Calipari said the original plan was for Thiero to play just "10 or 12" minutes.

Wallace scored just five points on 2-8 shooting, not getting on the board until there was less than a minute left in the game. 

No Fredrick put a heavy load on the shoulders of Reeves, as the Illinois State transfer played all 40 minutes against UGA over the weekend — the first time he's done so in his UK career.

Despite scoring 20 points and collecting six rebounds, Reeves admitted postgame that being on the court too much took a toll on his legs.

"I feel like my legs were kind of getting tired," he said. "Playing 40 minutes is tough for anybody, to be honest. I think that me being out there too much, it got a toll on my legs."

On his Monday night's call-in radio show, Calipari offered a solution for UK, suggesting that the Cats play with a one-guard lineup at times if Wheeler and Fredrick remained unavailable. 

"We could play with one guard. We could play Jacob (Toppin) at the three," he said.

Moving Toppin — a traditional '4' — up a spot would in-turn do the same to freshman forward Chris Livingston, who has flip-flopped from the '3' and '4' spot for a good chunk of the season.

That in-turn leaves minutes to be taken in the paint by either Daimion Collins, Lance Ware or Ugonna Onyenso. Collins have played in spurts over the past two weeks, while neither Ware or Onyenso have seen the floor in the month of February. 

Kentucky is in must-win mode, as it has just six games left in the regular season to wiggle its way into the NCAA Tournament field.  ESPN's Joe Lunardi currently has UK as the first team out of the 68-team field, while Miss State is projected as the fourth-to-last team in.

The trek continues inside a packed Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. EST, 7:30 local time. The game will be televised on the SEC Network. Mississippi State is a 2.5-point favorite.

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