Antonio Reeves opens up on uncertainty regarding Kentucky return

A return to Kentucky from Antonio Reeves wasn’t always what the Wildcats were expecting at times. If anything, it even looked unlikely at different points of the offseason.

Even so, Reeves, UK’s second-leading scorer from a season ago, is officially back in the fold. Still, looking back on the whole situation, it’s not something that the fifth-year guard wants to share much about besides those in his inner circle.

“I’ll keep that between me and my family. I don’t want to speak on that type of stuff,” Reeves said. “But, you know, (I’ve just been) going through the process, trying to be a pro. Just going through workouts every day. Things like that.”

However, Reeves did say that, although there was much consideration, Kentucky was always his top choice. He was intrigued by a second run with the Wildcats. In the end, he eventually elected to pull the trigger on another go around in the bluegrass.

“I didn’t really have too much in mind but I always considered here first,” said Reeves. “I definitely wanted to be here for a second year. That’s what I wanted to do.”

Reeves averaged 14.4 points per game as a fringe starter for UK after transferring in from Illinois State. He was also the Wildcat’s best three-point shooter by far as he made 80 on the season. That was good for a career-best of 2.4 per game on a career-high mark of 39.8% from distance.

As the offseason began, Reeves elected to enter the NBA Draft and take part in the process. With that said, his decision-making became very murky as, once he pulled his name from the draft, there was no official word of whether or not he’d return to Lexington. As a whole, that added up to a stretch of several weeks that featured twists and turns, yet no determinations, of whether he’d be back on the roster, transferring again as a graduate later this summer, or going pro through a different route.

That was until two weeks ago when, on June 21st, reports flooded in that Reeves had moved back in to his dorm. He then started to appear in footage from the program until he finally announced his return in an official capacity with an Instagram post this week.

Again, that was a very long, and quite stressful, journey as Kentucky awaited any positive updates on Reeves’ future. With him back, though, the outlook of UK’s season is much better now than it was in the middle of June when his time with the program was still very much up in the air.