Reed Sheppard discusses special meaning behind No. 15 jersey at Kentucky

Reed Sheppard isn’t your normal Kentucky commitment. As a four-star prospect, Top-40 recruit, and the No. 1 player out of the state Kentucky, the North Laurel product arrives as highly-touted as all the other Wildcat freshman. However, his family ties take his connection to Lexington to a whole other level.

That’s especially true now that Sheppard will be switching his high school jersey of No. 3 to No. 15, the number that his father, Jeff Sheppard, wore back in the mid-90s. Based on UK’s current roster, Sheppard’s son said that he realized that a number switch was possible and that it could be this meaningful for his family.

“Adou (Thiero) is wearing No. 3. So I figured, after that, I would just have to go with pop’s old number and rock the fifteen,” Sheppard said.

“I definitely thought about it. I kind of always kept it to myself though,” said Sheppard. “But I never told him. In my head, I was like I’m probably gonna wear No. 15. But I never said anything to him. So this year was the first time he ever heard about it.

From there, Sheppard explained the moment when he told his father that he’d be honoring him with his number switch this season. He described it as “cool” and said how it “shocked” Jeff considering what that represented for his father.

“It was really cool. It was cool for me to be able to tell him. And it shocked him. I don’t think he was expecting it just because I wore three my whole life,” said Sheppard. “After I told him? It was a really cool moment.”

Jeff Sheppard spent five years in Lexington and played 134 games for UK. Over that career, he averaged 8.1 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.1 assists while shooting 46.4% from the field and 38.8 from three. He was a part of four teams that combined to win 124 games, four SEC titles, three SEC Tournament titles. They also won a pair of national championships under Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith.

Sheppard’s final season was the icing on the cake. In ’97-’98, he averaged career-highs across the board with 13.7 points, four rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.2 steals. Then, while averaging 16.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists, a steal while shooting 52.2% from the field and 35.7% from three, Sheppard led UK to the 1998 national title as the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

Now, Reed Sheppard has more than his recruitment to live up to. He has his family’s legacy to fulfill as well. Even so, he’s off on the right foot by embracing all that comes with that by choosing to don his father’s number heading into his freshman season.