John Calipari offers criticism, praise for Reed Sheppard: 'Why would you do that?'

Reed Sheppard may be a true freshman, but his game and his hoops IQ is far beyond his years, which is such a nice asset for John Calipari.

The Kentucky head coach commented after the team’s senior night victory over Vanderbilt that Sheppard’s “got a coach’s mentality” and is such a great teammate.

“Like he will come to me with stuff, like different players, you know. He’s the greatest in that. ‘Just give it to Robert and we will get away from it.’ Like, think about that. Great teammate, terrific player, unbelievable feel and reactions.”

However, there is one area where Sheppard hasn’t always excelled — and that’s in very end-of-game situations, as he committed key and nearly-costly turnovers in the road wins over Florida and Mississippi State.

“We’ve got to get Reed (better) at late game stuff. How about the pass he threw to Antonio (Reeves)? Why would you do that? We can’t do those kind of things late,” Calipari said, referencing his turnover last week against MSU that led to two free throws for the Bulldogs late in the game. “You’ve got to recognize with three, four minutes to go it’s not early in the second half where you can go try some stuff.”

Of course, though, it was also Sheppard who saved the day with a game-winner. But Kentucky could have avoided that situation altogether if he had taken better care of the ball in a previous possession.

“Now, Mississippi State, he made that shot. What about the passing through? He’s better than that. I told him: ‘You can’t take that many chances those last four or five minutes. Just play solid.’ And he can do that. And then, the way he is shooting the ball, you’ve got to guard him. He spaces the court and we get to the rim.”

Everyone loves Reed Sheppard’s game, but it’s those occasional mind-numbing mistakes that keep John Calipari up at night.

“But he will be better. I just said to him, I didn’t raise my voice. I said, ‘you are better than what you are playing at the end of games. You are turning it over and leaving 3-point shooters and you are doing stuff. You are too good, you are too good of player,'” shared Coach Cal before ending on a positive.

“I’m saying this: I love coaching him because he’s an unbelievable teammate. The guys know they can count on him.”