Antonio Reeves joins 1,000-point club in loss to LSU

There is no spinning Kentucky’s 75-74 loss to LSU. It was brutal, but we would be remiss if we didn’t recognize one milestone reached in Baton Rouge. Antonio Reeves crossed the 1,000-point mark of his Kentucky career, joining an elite club of 62 Wildcats. Coming into tonight, he needed just 24 points to do it. He hit No. 24 and No. 25 at the free-throw line with 8:26 to go. Unfortunately, they were his final points of the game.

Reeves is just the eighth player in Kentucky Basketball history to total 1,000 points in two seasons. Bill Spivey has the most of that group with 1,213 points from 1949-51. Now at 1,001 points with five regular season games remaining and the postseason, Reeves has room to climb the ranks, especially if Kentucky goes on a run in the postseason. He is just the sixth 1,000-point scorer in the John Calipari era.

13. Patrick Patterson (3 seasons): 1,564 points
34. Darius Miller (4 seasons): 1,248 points
48. Oscar Tshiebwe (2 seasons): 1,117 points
53. Terrence Jones (2 seasons): 1,064 points
58. Doron Lamb (2 seasons): 1,018 points
T61. Antonio Reeves (2 seasons): 1,001 points

“I haven’t had many 1,000-point scorers because I haven’t had many guys stay two or three years,” John Calipari said on his call-in show on Monday. “So, how many do we have?”

“I will tell you, I left the gym today and he’s in there with Robert [Dillingham], Antonio is,” Calipari said. “This kid lives in the gym. He has made himself a three-level scorer — the three, the midrange, the layup. At the basket, reverses, all of the stuff he’s going. How about, he’s defending? How about his rebounding? He’s made himself a pro. You’re talking about All-American numbers, Player of the Year numbers. If we can keep going and get better and better, that’s all there for him. That’s why winning does matter.”

Even if it came during a loss, Reeves’ accomplishment deserves to be applauded. He and Rob Dillingham were the only Wildcats to score in double figures tonight, at 25 and 23 points respectively.