Jeff, Stacey Sheppard share experience of watching son, Reed, make Kentucky debut

Jeff and Stacey Sheppard starred on the court at Kentucky more than 20 years ago. Now they get the rare opportunity to watch their son, Reed, do the same as he prepares for his freshman season in Lexington.

Both of the elder Sheppards saw plenty of success during their time with the Wildcats. Jeff won two national championships and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 1998 NCAA Tournament. Stacey still ranks among the top 10 in 3-pointers made, assists and is 14th in total points.

Reed got his first chance to officially wear a UK jersey as a member of the team during the GLOBL JAM Tournament in Canada this past week. After watching their son make his debut, both parents expressed pride in seeing him follow in their footsteps.

“Very surreal,” Stacey Sheppard said on LEX18 News. “It’s kind of a ‘pinch me’ moment and something that Reed has worked hard for his entire life. To finally get to see him out on the court, it’s an amazing thing to watch your son live out his dream.”

Reed Sheppard comes in as one of five top 50 recruits in Kentucky’s 2023 class, which ranks No. 1 according to On3’s Team Recruiting Rankings. He ranked as the No. 1 player in Kentucky and No. 38 overall according to the On3 Industry Rating, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Wearing No. 15, the same number Jeff wore as a Wildcat, Reed put together a solid debut in the opening game of the tournament against Germany. Although he struggled to find his shot and finished 0-for-4, he found other ways to contribute and finished with six assists, three rebounds and a pair of steals in 15 minutes.

That determination even when his shot wasn’t falling made his dad proud.

“We’ve seen him play I don’t know how many games,” Jeff Sheppard said. “So we’ve seen him play games where he’s made shots (and) he’s missed shots and we have both been there as well. It’s too difficult of a game to play perfect. It’s so important that you just focus on your team. When things have gone bad from an individual standpoint, what we’ve said is ‘just focus on winning the game. Focus on your team. Focus on defense, rebounding and doing the little things.’

“It’s amazing when you focus on other things how your shot starts to go in because you’re consumed in the game and you’re in the rhythm of the game instead of always thinking of yourself.”

Sheppard bounced back from that poor shooting performance to scoring 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting in the next game against Canada. He still made his presence felt defensively and as a distributor with four assists, four steals and two blocks.

In the third game against Africa, Kentucky coach John Calipari moved Sheppard into the starting lineup at point guard. That resulted in his best game of the tournament as he scored 18 points (6-10 FG, 2-5 3PT) and finished with a team-high eight assists.

For Wildcats fans, it was the emergence of a potential star at point guard. For his parents, however, it was a reflection of the lessons they taught their son to prepare him for this moment.

“There’s only a few things that you can control in a basketball game or in life, too,” Stacey Sheppard said. “That’s your attitude and that’s your effort. So when you’re shots aren’t falling, you can control your defense, you can control your effort and you can control your heart and your emotions. Even though Reed wasn’t hitting those shots, he was able to do other things that he could focus on.”