Reed Sheppard exceeding all expectations early into Kentucky career

Even the most staunch Reed Sheppard supporters didn’t foresee this start from the homegrown star.

The first-year guard out of London, KY has burst himself onto the scene just four games into his college career. He was the fourth-highest-rated freshman out of high school from John Calipari’s loaded 2023 recruiting class, but you wouldn’t know that if you walked into Rupp Arena for the first time on Friday night. Sheppard put on a masterclass in how to shoot the ball — 25 points on 9-10 overall shooting, including a deadly 7-8 clip from beyond the arc. He also managed three rebounds, seven assists, three steals, and two blocks in just 26 minutes of action.

“Reed was tremendous,” Calipari said succinctly in his postgame press conference.

Kentucky didn’t need Sheppard to beat an inferior Stonehill College team by 34 points, but his breakout play through four games for the Wildcats has certainly changed how outsiders view the potential of this group long-term. Calipari added that Sheppard — and fellow freshman guard Rob Dillingham, who has also shined multiple times this season — are playing with “house money” right now.

Those two don’t have the weight of the world on their shoulders much like DJ Wagner and Justin Edwards do. It makes for stress-free basketball with the entire Rupp Arena crowd waiting on the edge of their seats for something amazing to happen. That’s what’s playing out so far.

Through four games, Sheppard is averaging 13.3 points, 2.8 assists, 2.8 rebounds, 1.5 blocks, and 3.0 steals on shooting splits of 69.2/70.6/100. He’s only turned the ball over four times while playing nearly 23 minutes per game, primarily as a point guard. Sustainable? Absolutely not. But he’s not going to be afraid to keep firing away. Sheppard’s seven made three-pointers against Stonehill were the second-most ever by a Calipari player at Kentucky. He hit three against No. 1 Kansas on the biggest stage just a few days ago.

“Reed is capable of that. Clearly he’s capable of that,” Veteran forward Tre Mitchell said of Sheppard’s shooting abilities. “He works hard, he deserves it. He takes open shots and if you leave that kid open, it’s going in the hoop. I hate to break it to you, it’s going in. He got it going today and he got it rolling early. Every chance I get I’m like ‘Shoot it, shoot it. Shoot the open one. If that top guy doesn’t step up, shoot it in his face. Who cares?'”

It certainly helps Sheppard that he’s surrounded by pass-happy teammates who would love for him to make seven 3s every night out. It also helped that Stonehill ran a 3-2 zone nearly all game long on Friday. Tre Mitchell had a field day breaking down the Skyhawks’ pressure, receiving the ball at the nail before either turning around for easy jumpers or finding his teammates for eventual scores.

“We heard about (Sheppard) and saw him on film, and even saw him in his AAU days, and just how good he is, how skilled and efficient he is at shooting the ball,” Stonehill head coach Chris Kraus said postgame. “We basically played 40 minutes of zone today, and he was one of the guys we made sure to key in on.

“It’s hard when you have weapons everywhere and size, athleticism, at the rim. We tried to take away the high post from Tre Mitchell. Him catching the ball and getting high post scoring a lot sucked us in a little and opened up the 3 for Reed. It’s hard to guard those guys and it’s hard to stop him. I think he was 7-8 (from 3) and he is who he is for a reason.”

The ball barely touched the floor when Kentucky was moving with rhythm and purpose against Stonehill. It created a ton of made 3s for the ‘Cats — 17 of them in fact, a record for the most in one game at Kentucky under Calipari. Sheppard accounted for over 40 percent of them just by putting himself in the right position and letting his talent do the rest.

“I didn’t shoot any that were contested,” Sheppard said. “They were all open because of Rob, DJ, Justin, Tre, all of them were able to get me wide-open 3s.”

That’s about all you’ll get out of Sheppard whenever he’s asked about himself, too. It always comes back to his teammates. But when he’s rolling, it makes Kentucky just that much more dangerous as whole.

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