Shaedon Sharpe has "stepped on the gas" in practice, teammates want him to play

Kentucky freshman guard Shaedon Sharpe is no longer limited to individual workouts and conditioning for the Wildcats. After nearly three weeks on campus, he’s now officially practicing with the team.

And according to John Calipari, things are going well. Really well, actually.

While he wasn’t ready to enter the game at Auburn — Calipari previously said he didn’t consider putting him in the game even with his team short-handed due to injury — Sharpe has ramped things up in practice in recent days. In fact, his Kentucky teammates are now hoping the five-star signee plays.

“Shaedon, you know, if I thought he was ready to go in (at Auburn), I would have put him in,” Calipari said. “But he’s not ready yet. He’s the greatest kid. The last couple of days he’s stepped on the gas a little bit and done some things. I think our team would like me to put him in.”

There have been a few head-turning moments in particular that have piqued the Wildcats’ collective interest.

“He does something, they all kind of look at me like, ‘Come on now. That’s who he is, put him in,'” Calipari said. “But you got to make sure you’re looking after him.”

What will it take for Sharpe to finally take the floor? Well for starters, reps. He’s only been on campus since the start of the spring semester to open the month of January; it’s just taken time.

From there, it’s about keeping things simple for the mid-year enrollee.

“He’s just got to get a lot of reps in,” Calipari said. “I’m trying to get him more reps and we did stuff today. If he plays, you’ve got to say, ‘We’re only doing these two or three things.’ He’s only been here a couple of weeks. Throw him in the game, say, ‘Okay, we’re gonna go five up, side angle,’ what? You better do some really simple stuff and let him do what he does.”

If — and it remains a big if — Sharpe enters the game, he will have one job on this team: score.

“What does he do? He scores the ball,” Calipari said. “So you say, ‘Look, you won’t believe this. When you get in and score the ball.’ And that’s if we choose to play him. I’m not sure yet what we’ll do.”

Kentucky will take on Mississippi State at Rupp Arena on Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET.