LEXINGTON, Ky. — A few days into his new gig — and just a few minutes into Kentucky’s most important basketball game of the season — Tyler Ulis was all in.
Why would anyone expect anything less?
Early in the first half against No. 5 Tennessee last month — the Vols winning, their home crowd rocking, and the Cats’ sputtering season seemingly on the line — UK freshman point guard Cason Wallace was being attended to by a trainer on the Kentucky sideline.
The TV cameras picked up a brief snippet of what happened next. Popping into the picture, a familiar face. It was Ulis, seven years older than the last time UK fans had seen him on the Wildcats’ bench. More hair on his head. A black zip-up hoodie instead of a blue and white uniform. But that determined look was exactly the same. That I-know-what-I’m-talking-about-so-listen-up expression hadn’t changed. The smallest guy on the court was once again commanding the attention of everyone within earshot.
Ulis stared right into Wallace’s eyes and told him exactly what he was seeing on the court, pointing out at the floor with his instructions. Wallace stared right back, listening intently. UK assistant coach Orlando Antigua stood between them, watching closely, at one point on the verge of interjecting, then thinking better of it and letting the 27-year-old student assistant finish saying his piece.
Close your eyes and think back seven or eight years ago, and it could’ve been Devin Booker or Jamal Murray or Isaiah Briscoe — or even John Calipari — on the listening end of those words. And listen they did, because Ulis was rarely (if ever) wrong.
A month after that game — the one where Kentucky walked into Knoxville and pulled off that stunning upset — Ulis sat in an office in the team’s practice facility and smiled at the scene.
“I was just caught in the moment,” he said with a chuckle.
Ulis explained that — with regular starting point guard Sahvir Wheeler sidelined due to injury — Wallace was stepping into the role in a big spot.
“I just wanted to try to help him through certain stuff,” he said. “And just tell him what I see. And just try to help him make certain reads that he may not see at the moment, in the heat of the game.”
That’s why he was there, after all.
At the semester break of this Kentucky basketball season, Ulis rejoined the program as a student assistant coach. That move came at the request of Calipari, and just like in Ulis’ playing days, there weren’t really any parameters put in place.
Over Calipari’s 14 seasons as Kentucky’s head coach, no player has earned his trust quite like Ulis, who assumed his “coach on the floor” role for the Wildcats pretty much right off the bat. Letting Ulis be Ulis worked then. Why tell him what to do now?
“He’s gonna be great,” Calipari gushed when announcing the news last month.
There have been plenty of highs and more than his fair share of lows since Ulis left Lexington seven years ago, but he’s back now. And he’s wasting no time.
“He’s into it. He’s learning,” said his father, James Ulis. “And I think he’s where he should be. He wants to stay in basketball. … He’s having fun. And he’s home, too. Kentucky is home for him.”
Nearly a decade ago there was a question over whether that would happen. UK was relatively late to Ulis’ recruitment. The Wildcats were perennial national title contenders. Many wondered whether Ulis — a 5-foot-8 guard and skinny to boot — was the right fit to follow in a point guard line that had included guys like John Wall, Brandon Knight and Andrew Harrison.
Even now, Ulis doesn’t remember seeing Calipari’s face in the crowd much during those days.
“I don’t know if he saw me a lot, and I feel like you have to see me a lot to understand what I bring to the table,” Ulis said. “And, over time, he knew how I was as a player.”
By the time Ulis left Lexington — and, really, long before that — he had Calipari’s unwavering trust and undying devotion. A Hall of Fame coach known to be hard on his young players in order to get the best out of them had found one that needed no instruction manual.
“I know other guys looked at Cal a little differently at times,” Ulis said, eyes bright and that familiar smile growing bigger as he spoke. “But, hey, he didn’t yell at me much!”
And then that smile erupted into laughter.
Return to Kentucky
Anyone who knows what Ulis has been through over the past few years would surely warm at the sound of that laughter.
He left Lexington at 20 years old, one of college basketball’s best and most beloved players. As a freshman, he was the backup point guard on UK’s 38-1 team. As a sophomore, he was the Southeastern Conference’s player of the year, SEC defensive player of the year, a consensus first-team All-American and the Bob Cousy Award winner, given to the nation’s top point guard.
Even those who disliked the Wildcats surely marveled at the 5-8 playmaker’s style, toughness and wizardry with the basketball. To UK fans, he was a legend while still a teenager.
His size was a red flag to pro scouts — at 5-8, he was the second-shortest player in NBA combine history; at 149 pounds, he was the smallest — and there were injury concerns, too. But Ulis was still drafted No. 34 overall and started 58 games over his first two seasons with the Phoenix Suns, putting up solid numbers and even winning an NBA Rookie of the Month award.
Injuries derailed his pro career. Ulis underwent ankle surgery between his first and second seasons. He had surgery on his hip at the beginning of what would have been his third pro season, returned to the game a year later and shuffled around the G League. Then, last February, while still working to get back onto the court, he was hit head-on by a wrong-way driver on the interstate, a car crash that nearly took his life.
Among the injuries suffered in that accident: a shattered left ankle that — one year later — still necessitates the use of a crutch for Ulis to get around. He spent time in a hospital bed, time in a wheelchair, time in physical rehab, time contemplating his next move.
And Calipari was there to recruit him for a second time.
Ulis said his college coach reached out after the accident to say the point guard had his support. He told him to come back to Lexington, work toward his degree, and spend some time around the Wildcats’ program.
“And I just decided to up and move,” Ulis said. “It was basically the only decision that made sense.”
Unable to play, Ulis started chipping away at his college education and spent his spare time hosting basketball camps for kids. When this season began, he found himself in the Joe Craft Center, observing UK’s early practices and offering his input.
When Ulis enrolled in a full course load this spring, it made him eligible to be a student assistant for the basketball team. Calipari didn’t hesitate.
“We wanted to come here because Coach Cal was here,” Ulis said of his playing days. “He’s helped me ever since Kentucky with my journey. Whether it’s coming back and helping coach, coming back to rehab, things like that. He’s just — that’s my guy.”
James Ulis was there for his son in person immediately after the car accident and supported him from back home in Chicago after he made the move to Kentucky. He said Tyler remained cheerful through most of his ordeal, but there were times when his son was down. There were tough days and difficult conversations. There were frustrations with the arduous healing process.
These past few weeks have brought a new outlook.
James Ulis said he used to talk to his son every day. Now, it’s more like every other day. Tyler is often too busy. And the topics of conversation are different. Tyler talks about watching film on UK’s players or the next opponent. He mentions things he’s seen in practice, excitedly bringing up current Cats and what they’re doing well, how they’re improving, aspects of their game he thinks he can develop.
“I think he can help a lot of kids,” James Ulis said. “And his story resonates with people.”
The next generation
Sahvir Wheeler was 15 years old when Ulis played his last game at Kentucky.
The current UK point guard was well aware of his new “coach” before that, however.
Wheeler said he was in middle school and living in Houston when his basketball-loving father found out that a tiny point guard with a possibly bright college future would be rolling through Dallas with his AAU team. Teddy Wheeler loaded up the family and hit the road.
When they got to the gym, the father told his similarly small son to watch Tyler Ulis closely.
“If you could get to his height, you could play Division I basketball,” Teddy told Sahvir. “Whatever you set yourself out to be, that’s what you could be.”
When the game was over, Teddy told Sahvir to go get close to Ulis and use the teenager as a human measuring stick.
“Yo, he’s not that much taller than me!” Wheeler recalled thinking. “Like, I can get there.”
The usually chatty Wheeler didn’t say anything to Ulis that day, but the memory stuck with him. Ten years later, in one of their first conversations, the current Wildcat told Ulis his story.
“You were my inspiration,” Wheeler said. “When I saw you, I was like, ‘Man, I can do it.’ ”
Wheeler is listed at 5-9 — an inch taller than Ulis — and he’s been delighted at the opportunity to have one of his early idols around this season.
“I feel like it’s somebody out there who actually sees what I’m seeing, from my point of view,” he said. “He sees it as a player. We kind of bounce ideas off each other. At the end of the day, he’s just a great guy to be around. I’ve talked to him about things other than basketball. He’s been a great addition to the staff.”
Ulis said he’d been watching Wheeler closely before jumping into his new role and was looking forward to giving him some pointers. They’ve been well-received, and hearing stories like the one Wheeler told of his childhood has also brightened Ulis’ own outlook on the future.
“That kind of helps you accept that you’re not playing anymore, because at least you left that mark on guys,” he said. “How I played is inspiring people to do certain things and want to accomplish certain things. It’s always good to have that feeling.”
Tyler Ulis’ future
Even in his current physical state, Ulis isn’t ready to turn the page on his playing career.
His hope is to be rid of the crutch for good by the end of this month, but the road to recovery is nowhere near complete. His left ankle still gets stiff. There’s still pain. A player that fans remember slicing and dicing his way through opposing defenses still moves gingerly, careful not to overdo it.
Ulis hopes to play basketball again someday, but he’s realistic about that outlook and acknowledges that his doctors have told him it’ll be another year or so before they can say whether his ankle will heal to the point that he can compete at a high level.
That’s a convenient timetable. He’s on pace to graduate from UK with a degree in communications next spring. In the meantime, he’s falling in love with basketball all over again.
Ulis said the injuries and the ups and downs of his NBA career did turn the game into a job, something he never saw it as while hooping as a kid or starring on college basketball’s biggest stage.
Being away from it for so long — Ulis played in his last competitive game three years ago — made him long for the court. And he’s having a ball now that he’s back on it.
“I feel like most people can see me being a coach because of how I play and being a coach on the floor,” Ulis said. “I feel like that’s something that makes sense for me — the player I was. And I’m having fun. It’s something new. I’m learning as I go. And I just want to keep going. …
“Anything I can do to help. Because I’ve been through it. I’ve played for Coach. I’ve known how he is. I’ve played in front of these fans, and I know how the fans get. I’m just here to help them through the process and each step.”
Off the court, Ulis is trying to keep the Cats’ point guards focused on the game while filtering the outside “noise” that comes with a tough season. On the court, Wallace and Wheeler are picking things up from one of the greatest point guards in program history.
“Just knowing that I can have an extra set of eyes out there is great,” Wallace said.
The UK coaches are getting feedback, too. Ulis has been noticing ways to use certain players.
“You might not be the same player, but we’re running the same sets. We’re running the same things,” he said. “Like Marcus Lee and Daimion (Collins) aren’t too far apart. So you can kind of look at these different years and just figure out things that have worked in the past. …
“It’s just a fun process for me.”
And if Ulis feels the need to shout commands from the bench or get in a player’s face during a game to relay something he’s seen from the sideline, Calipari is unlikely to get in his way.
“I think we have kind of an understanding,” Ulis said. “We’ve talked about me coming here and helping, and he wants me to help those point guards out. He trusted me when I played, and I feel like we have a level of trust and respect for each other. I’m not a person who’s ever going to overstep my boundaries or anything. I feel like I say just enough. … I might say something, but I’m not taking the clipboard from Cal or trying to change this or do that. I’m just here to help and assist and learn.”
Ulis plans to be part of next season’s team, too. That roster will feature hot-shot freshman guards like Robert Dillingham, Reed Sheppard and DJ Wagner, arguably the best playmaker in the country and a throwback to those blue-chip backcourt recruits of the early Calipari days.
He’s met those guys, and he’s already watching their highlights.
“It should be a fun year,” Ulis said with a smile. “Hopefully I’m in a better physical state so I can be physically able to help them on the court and show them things. They’re elite players. It’s just about trying to show them certain reads and learning the game from a college and pro perspective. Because in high school, you do what you want. And Cal is not going to let anyone just do whatever he wants.”
Ulis lets out another knowing laugh on that thought.
“You have to learn to play the game the right way,” he continued. “And that’s what I want to help them with.”
Back in his Kentucky basketball home, at least for the time being, Ulis has a bright view of his future, a light at the end of a difficult path.
And a new beginning for one of UK’s all-time greats.
“He played his butt off at Kentucky,” James Ulis said. “He played hard. He played hurt most of the time. People may know that now, but they didn’t know it then. Tyler was hurt most of his Kentucky career. And at the end of the day, he gave his all. He made it to the tip-top of basketball. He got drafted, and he played well in the league. And he’s a good person, a good kid. … Man, I’m proud of him.”
