FINAL: Reed Sheppard's seven 3s power Kentucky past Stonehill 101-67

Just call it the Reed Sheppard Game.

On Friday night at Rupp Arena, No. 17 Kentucky came out ready to score some points. Fueled by a game-high 25 points from Sheppard, the Wildcats picked up a 101-67 win over the Stonehill Skyhawks. Sheppard, who shot 9-10 overall and 7-8 from distance on the night, also added seven assists, three rebounds, three steals, and two blocks to his stat line in just 26 minutes of action. Not bad for a freshman.

As a team, Kentucky shot a red-hot 63.9 percent overall from the field and went 17-32 (53.1) from long range. The Wildcats turned the ball over a season-high 14 times but won the rebounding battle 36-29 and dominated in bench scoring, 47-13. Freshman Rob Dillingham dropped 20 points (7-10 FG), seven assists, and four rebounds of his own while veterans Antonio Reeves and Tre Mitchell both added 15 points apiece.

Stonehill played the entirety of the first half in a 3-2 zone. Kentucky gladly accepted that challenge.

Although the Skyhawks’ zone gave Kentucky some fits in the opening five minutes of the game — Stonehill even got off to a 6-2 lead — the Wildcats quickly settled in and began to click on all cylinders. The ball movement was constant and open shot after open shot was the result. Kentucky went ahead 30-15 at the under-12-minute timeout before cruising to a 58-37 lead at the break.

As a team, the Wildcats shot a blistering 66.7 percent from the floor while connecting on 10 of 16 shots from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes of action. They dished out 15 assists on 22 made shots with just three turnovers. Sheppard was particularly impressive, draining all four of his outside shots to go along with five dimes. Mitchell led the ‘Cats with 13 points while Reeves was right behind him with 12 points, four rebounds, and three assists.

Stonehill was still able to manage a 50 percent first-half shooting clip and even went 7-18 from distance, but the zone defense left open far too many pockets as space on the other end for the ‘Cats. Kentucky capitalized and never looked back. But not before the Skyhawks went on one final mini-run to give the Big Blue Nation a small scare.

Out of the break, Stonehill broke off a 9-0 run before four minutes could trickle off the second-half clock to make it a 12-point game. The Skyhawks elected to remain in the 3-2 zone, too. But just like the first half, it didn’t take long for Kentucky to exploit it.

A flurry of open shots found the bottom of the basket for UK as Reeves canned a triple before Sheppard knocked in two more. Soon after that, Dillingham was fouled on a three-pointer that he made and then converted for the and-one. Just like that, Kentucky was up by 23 points midway through the second half.

Eventually, Kentucky’s lead ballooned to 30-plus points and capped out at 37. Sheppard continued his rampage on both ends of the floor with 13 second-half points on three more three-pointers in addition to two steals and a block. When the final buzzer went off, the Wildcats settled on a 34-point win.

Next up: Kentucky will host Saint Joseph’s on Monday, Nov. 20 in the final game of the Wildcat Challenge.