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

When Antonio Reeves transferred to Kentucky from Illinois State, no one doubted his ability to put the ball in the hoop. Across three seasons with the Redbirds, Reeves poured in nearly 1,200 points. During his junior season in 2021-22, the 6-foot-5 sharpshooter averaged over 20 points per game en route to being tabbed to the Missouri Valley Conference Second Team. That year he shot nearly 47 percent overall from the floor and 39 percent from deep before announcing his intention to transfer.

If there was one thing the Big Blue Nation knew they were getting in Reeves, it was a guy who could score points in a hurry.

Early on in his tenure with the Wildcats, Reeves looked exactly like the scorer fans were expecting. He dropped 22 points and 18 points in back-to-back outings to begin his Kentucky career, albeit against the likes of Howard and Duquesne, respectively. A few weeks later he went for 20 points against North Florida then 18 more against Bellarmine. At least in those settings (against non-Power 5 opponents), Reeves was impressive

However, once the competition took a step up, he struggled.

Against Michigan State, Reeves finished with just five points on 1-7 shooting. The matchup with Gonzaga wasn’t much better with 10 points on 4-13 shooting. It was more of the same against UCLA with just six points on 2-13 shooting, which soon resulted in him losing his spot in the rotation. Shortly after Kentucky’s loss to the Bruins, Reeves played just 15 minutes against Missouri, 17 against Lousiville, then 14 against LSU.

But much like the Kentucky team as a whole, Reeves began to hit his stride about two weeks ago.

Coming into Saturday’s win over Texas A&M, Reeves had been on fire over his previous four outings, averaging 15.5 points per game while shooting 44.7 percent from the field and 34.8 percent from beyond the arc — all coming against SEC competition.

He was even more impressive in the 76-67 win over the Aggies, dropping a season-high 23 points on 8-17 overall shooting, including an efficient 5-11 clip from distance. Outside of his five made triples, Reeves hit a pair of tough runners just outside of the lane in the closing two minutes, effectively locking up the win for Kentucky.

“It felt great,” Reeves said of his performance. “I feel like I’ve been working hard, I feel like it just paid off as soon as I got in the game. Some of them was open, so I was just able to take my time and just relax when I was out there, and they just ended up falling.”

“Antonio was the most impactful player,” Head coach John Calipari said postgame.

Tone's catching fire.@ToniooReeves – 23 PTS, 5 3PT pic.twitter.com/2336iAeSNA

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) January 21, 2023

When Kentucky needed big shots, Reeves was the one who stepped up. On a day when his fellow sharpshooters, Cason Wallace and CJ Fredrick, shot a combined 3-17 from distance, UK needed every single bucket from Reeves. His fourth three-pointer of the afternoon came with under nine minutes left and broke a 53-53 tie. Kentucky never trailed again the rest of the way.

Over the last few weeks, the team as a whole has taken some time to reflect, including player-only meetings and finding clever ways to avoid distractions. For someone like Reeves, who went from the Missouri Valley Conference to playing under the bright light of Rupp Arena, it was understandable that the pressure of a rough start would impact his on-court game. But he got back into the gym and leaned on his teammates, which is leading to impressive results all-around.

“At the beginning when we started, many guys don’t have a lot of confidence, they don’t believe how good they are until now. When we start losing they say they need to step up,” Oscar Tshiebwe said postgame. “Now Antonio is stepping up… This isn’t high school anymore, this is a big boy’s game. If you don’t step up, they’re gonna send you home.”

This isn’t the MVC anymore for Reeves. He’s playing with the big boys now and stepped up when Kentucky needed it the most. Now it’s time to keep it going moving forward.