Antonio Reeves finding his role with Kentucky after up-and-down start

When Antonio Reeves transferred to Kentucky from Illinois State, nobody doubted his capability to place the ball within the hoop. Throughout three seasons with the Redbirds, Reeves poured in practically 1,200 factors. Throughout his junior season in 2021-22, the 6-foot-5 sharpshooter averaged over 20 factors per sport en path to being tabbed to the Missouri Valley Convention Second Staff. That 12 months he shot practically 47 p.c general from the ground and 39 p.c from deep earlier than asserting his intention to switch.

If there was one factor the Huge Blue Nation knew they had been getting in Reeves, it was a man who may rating factors in a rush.

Early on in his tenure with the Wildcats, Reeves seemed precisely just like the scorer followers had been anticipating. He dropped 22 factors and 18 factors in back-to-back outings to start his Kentucky profession, albeit towards the likes of Howard and Duquesne, respectively. A number of weeks later he went for 20 factors towards North Florida then 18 extra towards Bellarmine. A minimum of in these settings (towards non-Energy 5 opponents), Reeves was spectacular

Nonetheless, as soon as the competitors took a step up, he struggled.

In opposition to Michigan State, Reeves completed with simply 5 factors on 1-7 taking pictures. The matchup with Gonzaga wasn’t significantly better with 10 factors on 4-13 taking pictures. It was extra of the identical towards UCLA with simply six factors on 2-13 taking pictures, which quickly resulted in him dropping his spot within the rotation. Shortly after Kentucky’s loss to the Bruins, Reeves performed simply quarter-hour towards Missouri, 17 towards Lousiville, then 14 towards LSU.

However very similar to the Kentucky staff as a complete, Reeves started to hit his stride about two weeks in the past.

Coming into Saturday’s win over Texas A&M, Reeves had been on fireplace over his earlier 4 outings, averaging 15.5 factors per sport whereas taking pictures 44.7 p.c from the sector and 34.8 p.c from past the arc — all coming towards SEC competitors.

He was much more spectacular within the 76-67 win over the Aggies, dropping a season-high 23 factors on 8-17 general taking pictures, together with an environment friendly 5-11 clip from distance. Outdoors of his 5 made triples, Reeves hit a pair of robust runners simply outdoors of the lane within the closing two minutes, successfully locking up the win for Kentucky.

“It felt nice,” Reeves mentioned of his efficiency. “I really feel like I’ve been working onerous, I really feel prefer it simply paid off as quickly as I obtained within the sport. A few of them was open, so I used to be simply capable of take my time and simply chill out once I was on the market, and so they simply ended up falling.”

“Antonio was essentially the most impactful participant,” Head coach John Calipari mentioned postgame.

When Kentucky wanted huge photographs, Reeves was the one who stepped up. On a day when his fellow sharpshooters, Cason Wallace and CJ Fredrick, shot a mixed 3-17 from distance, UK wanted each single bucket from Reeves. His fourth three-pointer of the afternoon got here with underneath 9 minutes left and broke a 53-53 tie. Kentucky by no means trailed once more the remainder of the way in which.

Over the previous couple of weeks, the staff as a complete has taken a while to replicate, together with player-only conferences and discovering intelligent methods to keep away from distractions. For somebody like Reeves, who went from the Missouri Valley Convention to enjoying underneath the brilliant gentle of Rupp Enviornment, it was comprehensible that the stress of a tough begin would affect his on-court sport. However he obtained again into the gymnasium and leaned on his teammates, which is resulting in spectacular outcomes all-around.

“At the start after we began, many guys don’t have lots of confidence, they don’t imagine how good they’re till now. Once we begin dropping they are saying they should step up,” Oscar Tshiebwe mentioned postgame. “Now Antonio is stepping up… This isn’t highschool anymore, this can be a huge boy’s sport. If you happen to don’t step up, they’re gonna ship you residence.”

This isn’t the MVC anymore for Reeves. He’s enjoying with the massive boys now and stepped up when Kentucky wanted it essentially the most. Now it’s time to maintain it going shifting ahead.