Wheeler, Tshiebwe on Antonio Reeves finding his rhythm

Antonio Reeves has the hot hand for Kentucky. The transfer guard from Illinois State saw his minutes as a role player decline late in the non-conference part of the schedule, only for him to catch fire in Southeastern Conference play. In the last eight games, Reeves averaged 17.25 points per game in his usual spot off the bench, which would be the second-highest points-per-game average in the SEC if he had played to that level all year. Still, his 27 points last Tuesday night at Ole Miss set a new career high at Kentucky on a night when he played a season-high in minutes due to Cason Wallace’s absence.

“It just felt like the Illinois State days,” Reeves said in a postgame interview from Oxford.

On Saturday, Reeves can make it nine straight games in double figures when Kentucky hosts Florida in Rupp Arena. He will likely come off the bench despite his recent hot-handedness, but Reeves’ teammates still have high-level expectations of the SEC’s rising star.

Sahvir Wheeler said on Friday, “Sometimes it takes people longer to adjust than others, but it’s coming at the right time. That’s what he is, he’s a scorer, and we’ve known that since he was in the summer, we’ve known that since watching his stuff from Illinois State. He’s a guy that can really score the ball and that’s what we need him to do.

Antonio THREEVES x 4 🔥🔥🔥🔥@sahvir_ ➡️ @ToniooReeves pic.twitter.com/j0dtXUFYRj

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) February 1, 2023

“So now that he’s finally found a rhythm, he knows where his opportunities are going to be, I think it’s working on both ends, the fact that he’s playing so well defensively right now, it’s also helping his confidence on the offensive end, you know, he’s talking more, he’s being in the right spots. If you’re being in the right spots, most of the time you’re getting a stop and that leads to us being in transition where he can get lost in the game and get some easy, wide-open looks, and that just fuels your confidence.”

Wheeler added that it’s up to him and his teammates to stay aggressive in finding looks for Reeves because it will only get harder moving forward.

“Now it’s up to us because teams are not just going to keep letting him go off for how he’s doing, so it’s up to us to continue to find easy ways to get him some easy looks and create plays for him.”

One of those teammates, Oscar Tshiebwe, also spoke about Reeves’ recent rise and the impact he’s had on Kentucky.

Tshiebwe said, “Antonio’s been great. I just feel like he’s just finding out that he’s playing at this level because at the beginning, I don’t think he was playing at this level because he’s a scorer. Coach brought him to score the ball. Some of our guys, they worry too much coming into the game thinking about doing good so bad. When they don’t do good, it affects their mind. The one thing I told him, there’s only one thing I worry about when I go play, it’s control how hard I play. If I don’t play hard, that affects me. But if I’m playing hard, then I’m good.”

Tshiebwe also joked, “I told Antonio, ‘Come on, man. You’ve got to miss a couple so I can get some rebounds.”

For more from Wheeler and Tsheibwe, watch their Friday press conference to preview the Florida game.