Will Reed Sheppard play more point guard moving forward? "He's got that silent killer to him."

It’s no secret that Kentucky freshman Reed Sheppard struggled at times to begin the SEC slate. He averaged just 4.5 shots per game through the Wildcats’ first six conference outings, never getting off more than five attempts in a single contest while taking a total of just four two-pointers. Even in the first half against Arkansas on Saturday, Sheppard didn’t look like the NBA lottery pick he’d been made out to be in the months before.

But the tough-minded Kentuckian fought past whatever was preventing him from making a consistent impact. He told John Calipari to stick with him going into halftime against the Razorbacks on the road. The head coach obliged. Sheppard wound up playing a massive role in Kentucky’s second-half comeback down in Fayetteville that resulted in a must-have, 63-57 win for the ‘Cats.

“Reed’s got a mental toughness to him, and a grit to him, that most people are just unaware of because they’re not around him every day,” Kentucky assistant coach Chuck Martin said on Tuesday. “He’s got that silent killer to him and resiliency to him and you knew it was just a matter of time before he bounced back in the second half, which he did and made some unbelievable plays for us to help us win that game.”

Sheppard had zero points on 0-5 shooting and two fouls in the first half against Arkansas. He had a clean layup fall right off the rim. Kentucky posted just 24 total points and trailed Arkansas by two. Nothing about the offense was going right — until Calipari made a personnel change, sliding Sheppard to point guard while moving freshman DJ Wagner to an off-ball role. The plan worked almost instantly.

Out of the halftime break, it didn’t take long for Sheppard’s basketball IQ as a floor general — along with a hot-shooting Antonio Reeves — to take over the game.

Sheppard finished the night with 14 points, four rebounds, five assists, four steals, and one block in 35 total minutes. He didn’t commit a single foul in the second half and turned the ball over only once. His steal-and-score halfway through gave UK its first lead of the night. A dagger three-pointer with under 90 seconds left in regulation pushed Kentucky to a nine-point lead. Two clutch free throws with 40 seconds to go iced the game for good.

“I think we had a flow. There was a flow going,” Martin said of having Sheppard at point guard. “Coach Cal is really good with that, he’s got a feel for the game. He saw a few things that were going really well for us. Reed was able to get to the rim a number of times in critical moments in the second half. And once you see that once or twice, you just kind of feel like, you know what, let’s stick with Reed and see what happens. And he made some great plays down the stretch.”

REED. SHEPPARD. pic.twitter.com/6ixbvgUUkV

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) January 29, 2024

Calipari mentioned during his radio show on Monday that he loved what he saw out of Kentucky’s second-half lineup against Arkansas: Sheppard running the show at point guard surrounded by Reeves, Wagner, Tre Mitchell, and Ugonna Onyenso. Those five played the majority of the second half together, fueling UK’s comeback.

“It was Reed, Antonio, DJ, Tre, and Ugonna. We’ve been saying it,” Calipari said. “This may be our finishing team.”

Will we see Sheppard continue to take over point guard responsibilities moving forward, particularly down the stretch? We’ll find out tonight when Kentucky hosts Florida at Rupp Arena. Tipoff is set for 8:00 p.m. EST on ESPN.

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