Reed Sheppard gave everyone in Rupp Arena a night to remember. ‘And he deserves it.’
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Game day: No. 17 Kentucky 101, Stonehill College 67
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Friday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Stonehill College in Rupp Arena.
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The first five shots that Reed Sheppard put up Friday night were all 3-pointers.
All five of them were wide-open looks. All five of them went in the basket.
So when Sheppard shook loose for a sixth time, positioned himself in the corner and took the pass, everyone in Rupp Arena knew what was coming next. Many of these fans had been following Sheppard — a freshman playing in his fourth college basketball game for Kentucky — throughout his high school career. Many had seen his mom and dad play for UK back in the day. And every one of them was surely relishing the spectacle that was unfolding before them.
Sheppard squared up and let fly a sixth time.
“Threeeeee!” the Rupp crowd roared.
Everybody thought it was going in. Knew it was going in.
And then, an audible groan, thousands of voices deep.
It was the only shot the Kentucky kid missed all night.
UK defeated Stonehill College 101-67 on Friday, putting that heartbreaking loss to No. 1-ranked Kansas in the rearview mirror and placing the focus back on this young team’s future. It still looks as bright as ever, and Sheppard was the biggest star this time around.
The very next trip down the floor, Sheppard got open again and nailed another 3-pointer. A short time later, he drove toward the hoop, jumped in the air, spotted teammate Rob Dillingham in the opposite corner and threw a bullet in his direction. Dillingham hit a 3 of his own and got fouled. The crowd roared again as the Cats glided toward the UK bench for a timeout. Sheppard exchanged high-fives with assistant coach Chin Coleman, and when the freshman turned around, he was wearing a smile as wide as the basket must have looked.
“It was really cool,” Sheppard said afterward. “After I made the first couple 3s, I could hear the crowd getting into it. And my teammates, also, they were celebrating. I hit a couple shots, and after a timeout, they all come up and high-five you, hug you. ‘Keep shooting.’ And then they keep looking for you. Which is the special thing about this team: if you’re going, they’re going to keep finding you. They don’t care. They’re not gonna go down and just jack up shots just because you’re scoring and they want to score. They’re gonna make the right play.”
Sheppard wasn’t finished.
Not long after that, he hit another 3-pointer — his seventh of the game. Then, he pulled off a dribble move on the perimeter and pulled up for an elbow jumper. Swish. The capper came a couple minutes later, when he swiped the ball near midcourt and went the other way, crossing over a Stonehill defender in the paint and hitting a layup for his final points.
When the ball went in, his mother — former UK star Stacey Reed Sheppard — jumped out of her seat and pumped both fists excitedly. In the next seat was her husband and Reed’s dad, 1998 Final Four MVP Jeff Sheppard, who calmly clapped and looked on.
The 19-year-old’s final stat line: 25 points, seven assists, three steals and two blocks. He was 9-for-10 from the field, 7-for-8 from 3-point range. The only miss? He thought it was going in.
“I did,” Sheppard said with a smile. “It felt really good. It felt really good.”
Nobody’s perfect.
It was pointed out to Sheppard afterward that he was just two points shy of his dad’s career-high in scoring. Jeff Sheppard scored 27 points against Stanford in the 1998 Final Four, his 138th game as a college basketball player. It was also pointed out that Reed’s seven 3s on this night were more than his father ever made in a single game. Jeff’s best was six. He did that in his 131st game. The kid did it in game four.
“I didn’t know that stat,” said Reed Sheppard, that grin still a mile wide. “I’ll let him know about it when I see him later.”
John Calipari saw Sheppard score plenty in high school, but everyone who signed up to play for this Kentucky team — mostly a mixture of McDonald’s All-Americans and fifth-year vets — knew they’d have to sacrifice individual stats for team success, and the UK coach had already singled out Sheppard for praise of his defensive skills. He had hit some big shots in his first three games, sure, but it was those quick hands and team-first approach that impressed his Hall of Fame coach. As well as his teammates.
“I think Reed is completely deserving of a night like tonight,” said graduate senior Tre Mitchell, the oldest scholarship player on the team. “I mean, he works his tail-end off every single day. And a dude that is as active on defense as he is deserves a night like this on offense, too. Because he’s more than capable, as you can see. He puts the work in, and he deserves it.”
Sheppard’s shooting led the Wildcats to a milestone night. UK was 17-for-32 as a team from 3-point range, setting a new mark for the most 3s by a Calipari team. The previous high was 15, which happened just twice in the Calipari era and never since 2012.
These Wildcats sliced and diced their way through Stonehill’s 2-3 zone, with Mitchell quarterbacking the offense from the high post and everyone wearing white making the extra pass to lead to an even better shot.
“It’s really easy playing basketball that way — when you make the right play,” Sheppard said. “And we play that way in practice. So we’re getting more and more comfortable with each other, knowing what everyone’s going to do. So, as we keep going into the season, it’s going to be really, really fun.”
Less than a minute after that final steal and layup, Calipari took Sheppard out for good. The Cats were up 33, and his work was done. On the very next play, Dillingham hit another 3-pointer. And Sheppard, a cup of water in his hand, jumped off the UK bench to cheer on his fellow freshman.
When the buzzer sounded and the players filed into the postgame handshake line, Sheppard had the game ball tucked under his arm. Surely he was saving this one, right? The ultimate souvenir from his first big offensive game in the building he’d always wanted to call his basketball home?
“No, no, no. It was just rolling on the ground. I didn’t want it to get lost or anything, so I just picked it up,” Sheppard said, as earnest as can be.
The freshman handed the basketball to a manager. He joined his fellow Wildcats in the UK locker room. And when he came out to face the cameras, he gave them all the credit.
“I’ve got the best teammates in the world. They’re always gonna find you if you’re rolling.”
Next game
St. Joseph’s at No. 17 Kentucky
When: 7 p.m. Monday
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: St. Joseph’s 3-1, Kentucky 3-1
Series: Kentucky leads 2-0
Last meeting: Kentucky won 83-68 on March 20, 1997, in the NCAA Tournament West Regional semifinals at San Jose, California
This story was originally published November 17, 2023 at 11:16 PM.
