John Calipari is taking the good with the bad with Reed Sheppard's defense

Reed Sheppard is currently on pace to finish among the top five in Kentucky’s single-season steals category. After recording a career-high five of them in the Wildcats’ 109-77 win over Vanderbilt on Tuesday night, he’s now up to 53 steals through 22 games played.

If he continues to average the 2.4 swipes per game that he is right now, he’ll finish the regular season with roughly 74, tied for fourth all-time at UK with Cliff Hawkins. Depending on how far Kentucky makes it in the SEC and NCAA Tournaments, it’s feasible to believe that Sheppard could break Rajon Rondo’s single-season record of 87 set back in 2004-05. The London, KY native ranks 15th in the country in steal percentage (4.7), per KenPom.

Additionally, despite standing at just 6-foot-3, Sheppard is third on Kentucky in blocks with 18. Only Ugonna Onyenso (35) and Tre Mitchell (25) have more than the freshman guard. Against SEC competition, Sheppard’s block percentage of 2.38 ranks 24th in the conference — all 23 players ahead of him stand at 6-foot-4 or taller.

Advanced metrics love Sheppard’s defense. But the eye test doesn’t exactly match up with some of those figures. He does a lot of gambling on that end of the floor which leads to easy buckets. It’s no secret that he’s struggled to stay attached to his man whether it be on or off the ball.

Sheppard is about as unique of a guard defender as you’ll find in the country. Head coach John Calipari is still trying to figure out how to let him take risks on defense without giving up so many open shots at the same time.

“I was telling him today, what he does defensively, he’s kind of like what Rob (Dillingham) is on offense,” Calipari said after beating Vanderbilt. “You’ve got to let him go a little bit, and then you’ve got to let him do a couple things and then don’t accept it. Because he’ll keep going that way. Reed is (that) defensively. Because he gets his hands on balls, he blocks… he steals, he goes rogue. And just leaves. Like, why did you do that?

“So I’ve got to let some of it go because he is so good with his hands. But, I’ve also got to tell him, ‘Late in the game, you’re not leaving a 3-point shooter thinking you’re stealing a ball.’ You can’t. You can’t go rogue at certain times. But I’ve got to let him do a little bit because I don’t know if there’s another player that has better hands than he has.”

Letting Dillingham be Dillingham on offense has certainly paid off for Kentucky, especially over the last several games. Calipari still wants Sheppard to be Sheppard on defense — just with a little bit more discipline in tight contests down the stretch.

Watch the latest John Calipari press conference on the KSR YouTube Channel.