Reed Sheppard shines against Robert Dillingham, Strive For Greatness in ESPN debut
In a matchup that featured several five-star talents, it was Kentucky commit Reed Sheppard who stole the show at the Las Vegas Big Time Finale.
During a primetime matchup on ESPN between Sheppard’s Midwest Basketball Club (3SSB) and Strive For Greatness (EYBL), which included a surprise appearance from fellow Wildcat commit Robert Dillingham, Sheppard helped power his squad to a dominant win that was in the bag from the opening tip. Midwest Basketball Club cruised to a 78-67 victory over SFG, leading by double-digits for the majority of the night.
Sheppard finished the contest with 16 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. He was arguably the most impressive player on the floor along with his MBC teammate Rayvon Griffith, a four-star shooting guard committed to Cincinnati. Sheppard made his impact felt all over the floor. He was knocking down triples, cutting back door for several easy buckets, playing the passing lanes to perfection, and moving the ball all over the court.
In fact, if you didn’t know any better, you would have thought this was an ESPN special focused solely on Sheppard. He was receiving plenty of love from the broadcast crew, which did a brief segment on his parents, Jeff and Stacey Sheppard, along with bringing him in front of the camera for the halftime interview.
Whenever it looked like SFG was about to crawl back into the game, Sheppard would wiggle open for an easy layup or knock the ball away on defense for a transition bucket. It didn’t matter if he was being guarded by his future UK teammate in Dillingham or four-star CG Bronny James, Sheppard was in a zone.
In the end, MBC’s chemistry was simply too much for the star-studded SFG squad, which was seemingly put together within the last 24 hours. Along with Dillingham and James, the likes of five-star wing Mackenzie Mgbako, four-star guard Wesley Yates, and four-star forward Mookie Cook helped make up the SFG roster. But that didn’t phase Sheppard and Midwest Basketball Club, which has years of experience playing together and didn’t want to end their AAU careers on a loss.
With Sheppard, Griffith, and four-star guard Gabe Cupps running the show, MBC put on a clinic of ball movement and team defense. Those three combined for a total of 42 points in the win. Dillingham added 11 points and four assists for Strive For Greatness.
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