4-Point Play: Reed Sheppard's best moments at Kentucky

Reed Sheppard made the right decision. It’s heartbreaking that Kentucky’s all-time leading 3-point shooter and the 2024 Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Year will be ending his time as a Wildcat without a single postseason win, but it’d be financially irresponsible to pass up the opportunity to be a top-ten pick. The stars aligned and Laurel County’s finest caught lightning in a bottle by putting together one of the most efficient seasons in school history and maxing out his stock in a year many consider among the worst draft classes in recent memory.

Mark Pope’s hire may have thrown a wrench into things briefly and the idea of Sheppard playing for his dad’s roommate on an unfinished business tour was undoubtedly intriguing, but not enough to risk generational wealth while living out his NBA dreams.

“That is not something to be taken lightly. It’s really extraordinary,” Pope said of the star guard’s decision. He prayed it’d work out in Kentucky’s favor, giving him the ultimate anchor to build around in his debut season, but everyone knew this was the likely (and correct) choice. It is and always was time for Sheppard to go.

No matter how his one-and-done campaign ended, his all-time season is one we’ll be remembering for a long, long time. From start to finish, he represented this program and state both locally and nationally better than ever imagined. Your wildest dreams of Sheppard’s ability to perform at the highest level? He surpassed them tenfold.

But what were his best moments that defined his (far too quick) career in blue and white?

Sheppard calls game in Starkville

Trailing by 13 points in the second half, Sheppard willed the Wildcats back to take an eight-point lead in the final minute at Mississippi State, only for the Bulldogs to respond with heroics of their own to tie it in the closing seconds.

Then came No. 15, cutting down the lane for a floater at the buzzer, drilling the game-winner to close out his career-high 32-point performance while adding seven assists, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Josh Hubbard tried to steal it away, only for Sheppard to rip it right back for his legacy-defining moment at Kentucky.

“It was really cool,” Sheppard said. “Growing up, as a little kid, I always wanted to play at Kentucky, so being out there and being able to hit a game-winning shot for Kentucky was really cool. It was really special for me and to be able to do it with this group of guys that are really, really close off the court was really special.”

Second-half explosion at Tennessee

Less than two weeks later, No. 15 did it again, going nuclear in the second half to defeat SEC rival Tennessee on its home floor. Sheppard went for an absurd 22 points of his 27 total after intermission, missing just one of his seven attempts from three while adding three rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal in 19 second-half minutes. He finished with an overall stat line of 27 points (9-14 FG; 7-10 3PT; 2-2 FT), six rebounds, five assists, one block, and one steal in 33 minutes.

When Kentucky needed a big shot, Sheppard was there over and over and over again down the stretch. He had ice in his veins in an environment most would freeze outright. And he did it to lock up a second-place finish in the league, crucial at the time for the team’s resume.

“This was a huge, huge game for us and a big win,” Sheppard said after the win. “You know, Tennessee’s a really good team, really good players, it was their Senior Night, fans were into it, awesome atmosphere. It was unbelievable. So we really had to stick together and play as a team and lock in defensively and just — we knew coming in what we needed to do. We knew it was gonna be a fistfight. We knew they were going to come out and be physical and play good and have the crowds, so we knew we had to stick together and just lock-in.”

Becoming a household name in the Champions Classic

Sheppard had 21 double-figure scoring efforts at Kentucky, proving to be one of the team’s most consistent contributors all season long. And when he wasn’t scoring, he was racking up assists or steals or blocks — whatever the Cats needed on a given night.

His 13-point effort against Kansas in game three, though, was when the four-star freshman put the college basketball world on notice for the first time in the Champions Classic. On the sport’s biggest and brightest stage, Sheppard went 4-5 overall and 3-4 from three while adding four steals in just 16 minutes, putting his team in position to win a game many thought they had no shot down three 7-footers to open the regular season.

It was the day draft analysts begun looking his way as a potential first-rounder, separating himself as a household name at the national level.

“This guy here, Reed, (he) walked in and the game changed,” John Calipari said after the loss.

Proving he belongs in the GLOBL JAM

If we’re going back to the beginning, it only makes sense to go back to day one of Sheppard’s journey in blue and white: Toronto. It was the start of random basketball and when pass, dribble and shoot was shoved down our throats thanks to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s courtside observation. A big part of that formula? The lowest-ranked recruit of the bunch, the four-star freshman stealing the show with his defensive instincts and shot-making.

“Reed Sheppard is going to play (a lot),” was my first takeaway following Kentucky’s blowout win over Team Canada in the second game of the event.

“No, the North Laurel product did not earn a scholarship from John Calipari because he was named Mr. Basketball in Kentucky. He didn’t earn McDonald’s All-America honors because his dad was a Final Four Most Outstanding Player,” I wrote at the time. “Reed Sheppard is here because he’s a damn good player — the best on the floor in Kentucky’s win over Team Canada. The 6-foot-3 guard was sensational on both ends, finishing with 14 points on 5-8 shooting and 2-4 from three while adding four assists, four steals, two rebounds and two blocks in 25:30.”

Sound familiar?

He followed that up by going for 18 points, eight assists, two rebounds, two blocks and one turnover a game later in a win over Team Africa. “Time for Reed Sheppard at point guard?” was the headline in that one.

“Not in Toronto — he’s been running point all week. Big-picture, the point guard,” I wrote then. “How long until those conversations begin? Most thought they’d come in a few years, maybe next if things went well his freshman season. But is this year too soon? … The conversation is coming. ‘How soon?’ is the only question. Could it be this year at some point? It’s sure going to be hard to keep him off the floor.”

Little did we know, that would be the story of Kentucky’s season in 2023-24. And it’s now why Sheppard will be a top-ten pick this summer.