Antonio Reeves was given a challenge. He responded with a smirk. (And 37 points.)
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Game day: No. 23 Kentucky 88, Arkansas 79
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark.
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Before they even went to bed Friday night in Fayetteville, the Kentucky Wildcats knew who would be playing the next afternoon in Bud Walton Arena. And who wouldn’t.
Already 30 games into a basketball season that has been marred by injuries here, there and just about everywhere, John Calipari wasn’t waiting on any game-time decisions this time around. The UK coach demanded to know who would be available for the regular-season finale at Arkansas the day before the game was played.
Senior point guard Sahvir Wheeler would be out for an eighth consecutive game. That was already known. But freshman point guard Cason Wallace had suffered a lower leg injury Wednesday night and was questionable to play against the Razorbacks. Senior shooting guard CJ Fredrick — an emergency point guard if Wallace couldn’t go — was still battling a rib injury that kept him out of several games and has left him less than 100 percent in others.
Calipari wanted to know who he had in advance, so the coaches could form a game plan. The answer: Wheeler out. Wallace out. Fredrick would give it a go but could play only limited minutes.
That news obviously made it to the UK players well before tipoff Saturday, and it prompted Jacob Toppin to have a pregame chat with fellow senior Antonio Reeves.
“Before the game, I told him — I was like, listen: ‘Sahvir is out. Cason’s out. CJ is hurtin’. We’re gonna have to step up on offense.’” Toppin recalled after Kentucky defeated Arkansas 88-79.
What was Reeves’ response?
“He just looked at me and smirked a little bit. And I knew — I knew — what type of game he was gonna have. I didn’t think he was gonna have 37, but I knew he was gonna be ultra-aggressive.”
Reeves did indeed drop 37 points on the Razorbacks, playing all 40 minutes, quieting and frustrating the raucous Bud Walton Arena crowd time and again as he lifted Kentucky to an improbable victory on the final day of the Wildcats’ regular season.
Reeves was 12-for-17 from the floor. He made all 11 of his free throws. Kentucky’s top three-point shooter this season took just four of them Saturday, and he made two.
Most of his points came on mid-range jumpers and drives to the basket. He scored 15 in the first half, lifting the Cats to a 40-36 lead at the break. And then Reeves let loose out of halftime. He scored Kentucky’s first 11 points of the second half, all in a span of less than four minutes. By the time he was finished with that flurry, the Wildcats led 51-40. Try as they might, the Razorbacks never got the game within five points from there.
“Anything I shot, it just went in,” Reeves said. “It was one of those type of games — just stay aggressive, and I just found my spots on the floor.”
Reeves’ previous career high was 34 points, coming last season with Illinois State. His best at Kentucky had been a 27-point outing at Mississippi on Jan. 31.
He’s been a spark-plug scorer for the Cats all season, and he knew Kentucky would need a big game from him Saturday afternoon, playing with no point guards and Fredrick battling through pain. To compound that, Oscar Tshiebwe played just 26 minutes due to foul trouble — some of it stemming from a couple of uncharacteristic altercations in the first half. Fredrick dished out a team-high four assists in 15 minutes, but he scored only two points. The Cats’ other starter, Chris Livingston, grabbed nine rebounds but was 0-for-5 from the field and had just one point.
Not to worry on this day. Not with Reeves on the court.
When Toppin issued that pregame challenge, he didn’t need a response from Reeves. That knowing smile said it all.
“When he said that to me, I just had the instinct: ‘It’s time to go.’ And that’s what it really was,” Reeves said.
Toppin came up big, too. He scored 21 points and dished out three assists on this point guard-less afternoon. His two three-pointers in the second half were as big as any Kentucky makes all day. On the first one, an Arkansas run had narrowed UK’s lead to 55-50, and Calipari called a quick timeout.
“And Coach was like, ‘This is the time where we see who has …,’” Toppin paused, on the verge of giggles, thinking it best not to repeat the word Calipari had used in the huddle. “I don’t want to say it. Like, you know. Who has the … ‘fight’ to make some shots.”
The next make out of that timeout was a Toppin three to beat the shot-clock buzzer and extend UK’s lead back to eight points with 8:30 to play. Bud Walton Arena went quiet.
Two minutes later, a Nick Smith Jr. dunk electrified the Arkansas fans yet again and narrowed Kentucky’s lead to six points. The very next possession, the shot clock ticking down again, Toppin stepped into a three and silenced those fans once more.
“As soon as I shot both of them, I knew they were good,” Toppin said.
A question about Reeves’ performance obviously led off Calipari’s postgame press conference. He basically ignored that premise and said he had declared Fredrick to be the team’s “most impactful player” in the locker room after the victory.
“We don’t win the game unless CJ decides to play hurt,” Calipari said.
A few minutes later, Calipari was talking about Reeves and Toppin making some big shots.
“I didn’t look at Antonio’s points,” he said.
The Kentucky coach looked down at his paper box score. He squinted, seemingly in disbelief.
“He had 37?” Calipari muttered. “… Wow. I didn’t know.”
And then he conceded the point.
“Maybe he was another one. Maybe we had co-impactful players.”
Next game
No. 23 Kentucky vs. TBA
What: SEC Tournament quarterfinals
Opponent: Winner of Thursday’s game between Vanderbilt and Georgia-LSU winner from Wednesday
When: Friday (about 9:30 p.m. EST)
Where: Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Record: Kentucky 21-10 (12-6 SEC)
This story was originally published March 4, 2023 at 6:38 PM.
