If Cason Wallace can't go, Antonio Reeves will have to take over at point guard

Considering the circumstances, Antonio Reeves was placed into an unfair situation on Wednesday night.

During Kentucky’s disappointing 68-66 Senior Night loss to Vanderbilt, Reeves was forced to take over at point guard for almost the entirety of the second half. Already down Sahvir Wheeler coming into the game due to injury, Kentucky also lost Cason Wallace after he went down with a lower leg injury early in the second half. That left head coach John Calipari with zero true point guards the rest of the way. To make matters worse, CJ Fredrick, who is more shooting guard than floor general, is still playing through a cracked rib, and freshman Adou Thiero is so rattled with the ball in his hands over the last few games he can barely dribble up the floor.

For the final 18:14 of the game against Vanderbilt, Reeves was the point guard for Kentucky. He was already struggling to shoot the ball before then (2-6 from the field, 0-3 from three in the first half) and was now being relied upon to initiate the offense. He played every second of the game after the half. To his credit, Reeves did the job to the best of his abilities, but there was too much on his shoulders.

He added just eight points in the second half on 2-11 shooting (1-5 from deep) while turning the ball over three times. Reeves also missed the potential game-winner at the buzzer — a running three-pointer that he had just 2.6 seconds to get off.

“On the fly, playing that position, it’s kinda a struggle,” Reeves said postgame. “Trying to learn plays and where to go at that position if you’re not already in that position to do so. You just have to be ready and just figure things out.”

The hope is Wallace can return sooner rather than later — ideally this Saturday on the road against Arkansas — and that his injury is nothing serious. But if that doesn’t happen, Reeves will have to step up in a major way. He went through short stints during his three seasons at Illinois State where he filled in at point guard, but it’s clear that Reeves’ bread and butter is when he’s hunting for shots as opposed to running the show. Wallace, on the other hand, has been playing the point for most of the season now.

“It’s definitely different,” Reeves added. “One of those things where he’s (Wallace) been playing point, he knows where guys are at, he makes plays for us. He’s a leader at that position.”

Reeves is at his best when he’s dribbling downhill or flying down the sidelines for fastbreak shots. When he plays at his own pace, he can knock down unorthodox looks with ease. But against Vanderbilt, he was rushing, oftentimes dribbling too much or moving faster than his mind was thinking. The obvious option for Kentucky was to force-feed the ball to Oscar Tshiebwe, who was living at the free-throw line in the second half, but that is much easier said than done when there’s no true point guard on the floor to make it happen.

All of this could be moot if Wallace returns and plays at the same high level he had been over the last few weeks. But Reeves will have to be ready to take over point guard responsibilities if it comes to that.

“I’m not like too — I don’t wanna say scared, I’m not scared,” Reeves said. “It’s one of those things where I have experience playing point and I can make plays for the other guys. So I just have to be ready for it.”