Antonio Reeves dropped 27 points vs. Tennessee, his 7th straight 20-point game
A few hours before tipoff between No. 15 Kentucky and No. 4 Tennessee on Saturday, Antonio Reeves was one of 15 players tabbed to the Wooden Award national ballot for National Player of the Year. The fifth-year shooting guard backed up that honor by dropping 27 points in 37 minutes of action during an 85-81 win over the Volunteers in Knoxville.
It was just another day in the office for Reeves, but it shouldn’t feel like it. What Reeves has done this season is unlike almost anything we’ve seen during the John Calipari era in Lexington.
Reeves has now scored at least 20 points in seven straight games for the ‘Cats, putting him at 19 total on the season across his 31 games played. He’s the first UK player with that many in a row since Jamal Murray had twelve back in February and March of 2016.
“I don’t even count how many 20-point games I got,” Reeves said after his performance. “I just go out there and hoop.”
Following Saturday’s win, Reeves is now averaging 20.2 points per game, which would be the most ever by a Kentucky player under head coach John Calipari if the season ended today (sorry, Murray). His shooting splits of 50.7 percent from the field, 44 percent from deep, and 88 percent from the line are among the best in the entire country. He has just one single-digit scoring game this season.
An All-American bid is more than real at this point. It’s practically assured.
We could talk endlessly about how incredible Reeves has been in 2023-24, but let’s focus on the Tennessee matchup just a bit more. Sixteen of his 27 points came in the second half for Kentucky, which needed every single one of those buckets to avoid a collapse down the stretch. He also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, marking the second game in a row he’s led Kentucky on the glass.
“How about Antonio Reeves being our leading rebounder?” Calipari said postgame. “…I told him early, I thought he had some threes and I said you’re not going to be eight feet open. If you’re four feet open, let it go. And he started letting balls go and you know, he looked good.”
There were two moments where Tennesse got the score within five late in the second half. It was Reeves who punched right back with timely buckets to extend the lead back out to seven. Calipari was frustrated with Reeves wanting to play isolation ball in certain situations, but that’s what you take when you’ve got a scorer as reliable as the former Illinois State transfer.
“I thought there were times where Antonio held the ball, held the ball. You haven’t seen that all year,” Calipari added. “And I told him, if you can’t get a shot or drive, throw it to somebody and see if they can.”
With his 27 points against Tennessee, Reeves moves into 49thon the Kentucky all-time scoring leaderboard with 1,115 points. Funny enough, he passed Jeff Sheppard in the process. His son, Reed Sheppard, also dropped 27 points alongside Reeves in Knoxville.
Reeves isn’t the only high-profile scorer on Kentucky’s roster, but he’s most certainly the most consistent.
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