Three-point threat Antonio Reeves will play basketball for Kentucky next season
In need of backcourt help for the 2022-23 basketball season, Kentucky has landed a commitment from one of its top transfer targets.
Antonio Reeves — a 6-foot-6 guard from Chicago — is headed to Lexington after spending the past three seasons at Illinois State. He will have two years of college eligibility remaining.
Reeves emerged as an instant-impact player as a freshman for the Redbirds coming out of Simeon High School, one of Chicago’s elite basketball programs. He started all but one of his 58 games over the past two college seasons, averaging 20.1 points per game — second in the Missouri Valley Conference — in 2021-22.
The newest Wildcat will also bring some always-needed shooting ability to Kentucky’s program.
As a third-year college player this past season, he made 39.0 percent of his three-point attempts (going 76-for-195) and 81.8 percent of his free throws (hitting 112 of 137 attempts).
Reeves said he was challenged by Redbirds head coach Dan Muller and even his teammates to be more aggressive offensively in his third season with the program.
“I thought Antonio would come back and be our leading scorer,” Muller said in January. “He was really hard to guard in practice, almost every day. As we got into October, I knew he was a problem. Now 21 points is hard to do, but I knew he was going to have big scoring games, he’s going to make big shots, and teams are going to have to game plan for him.”
Muller was let go as Illinois State’s head coach late in the season. He was replaced by Ohio State assistant Ryan Pedon, and Reeves entered the transfer portal a couple of weeks later.
Reeves will probably need to cut into his shot volume this coming season while playing in a backcourt that is expected to include several other talented players.
Tasked to be the Redbirds’ primary offensive threat this past season, Reeves attempted 15.3 shots and 5.9 three-point attempts while playing 34.9 minutes per game. Others should be able to help him shoulder the scoring load at Kentucky.
UK’s backcourt for the 2022-23 season is finally taking shape.
Starting point guard Sahvir Wheeler announced he will return to Kentucky. He led the Southeastern Conference in assists for the second consecutive year this past season. Wheeler doesn’t necessarily have a lock on the starting point guard spot next season, despite being recognized as one of the top players nationally at that position in the 2021-22 campaign.
Five-star combo guard Cason Wallace will be entering his first season with the program, and transfer CJ Fredrick — a three-point threat at Iowa in his first two seasons of college — is expected to be fully healthy and play a prominent role on the Wildcats’ 2022-23 team.
Kellan Grady and Davion Mintz exhausted their college eligibility last season, and freshman guard TyTy Washington has already declared for the NBA Draft with no intention to return to UK.
Former No. 1 recruit Shaedon Sharpe is also expected to ultimately keep his name in this year’s NBA Draft, where he’s projected as a lottery pick and a possible top-five selection despite never playing in college.
Wallace — a top-10 recruit in the 2022 class — was arguably the best floor leader in all of high school basketball last season, though he can play on or off the ball. Reeves also has the ability to play on the ball, and Kentucky could continue to look for players in the transfer portal capable of playing minutes at the point guard spot next season.
