Year in review: Reed Sheppard returned to the Sweet 16. Now, he’ll be a Kentucky Wildcat.
Reed Sheppard will be a Kentucky Wildcat.
This has been a long-known fact: Sheppard gave his verbal commitment to the Wildcats’ men’s basketball program in November 2021, and last fall Sheppard became an official signee with UK in the 2023 recruiting class.
But now, Sheppard is finally on the cusp of his college basketball career beginning.
Sheppard’s senior season and high school basketball career ended Thursday night in the UK HealthCare Boys’ Sweet 16 state basketball tournament at Rupp Arena in Lexington.
Sheppard and the North Laurel Jaguars lost to defending state champion George Rogers Clark, 62-54, in the opening round of the Sweet 16.
Sheppard’s final high school stat line was characteristically an all-around outing: He had 23 points, seven assists, four rebounds and four steals.
The next time Sheppard takes the hardwood representing his school in a competitive game, it will probably be at the same venue as part of UK’s star-studded and top-ranked 2023 recruiting class.
“It’s been a heck of a ride. I couldn’t ask for anything better,” Sheppard said Thursday night when reflecting on his high school career. “North Laurel’s been awesome to me and I couldn’t ask for anything else.”
Sheppard leaves legacy at North Laurel
Sheppard was born straight into a basketball family as the son of UK greats Jeff Sheppard and Stacey Reed Sheppard.
But even in this context, Sheppard managed to distinguish himself as a basketball player in the commonwealth.
His high school career ends with consecutive 13th Region Tournament championships and trips to the Sweet 16.
As a senior, Sheppard led North Laurel with more than 22 points and eight rebounds per game entering the state tournament.
“He’s just done a tremendous job for us,” North Laurel head coach Nate Valentine said Thursday night. “He could’ve gone and played at a lot of other places in the country and chose to stay here and be loyal to North Laurel, to the state of Kentucky. Can’t thank him enough.”
On Sunday night, Sheppard was named 2023 Kentucky Mr. Basketball.
Sheppard finished his high school career with 3,727 career points, which unofficially would place him third on the Kentucky’s boys’ all-time list behind Lyon County’s Travis Perry and Wayland’s “King” Kelly Coleman.
Earlier this year, Sheppard also earned McDonald’s All-American honors, becoming the first Kentucky high school boys’ player to receive that distinction since Bowling Green’s Chane Behanan in 2011.
Sheppard shoulders attention, takes North Laurel on season of lifetime
When high school basketball teams have a showcase recruit, it can open doors that never existed before.
North Laurel is a prime example of this.
Thanks to the attention on Sheppard as a five-star college basketball recruit and Kentucky commit, the Jaguars were welcomed into several special events and showcase tournaments this season.
This included a game against Imhotep Institute (featuring another 2023 Kentucky signee in Justin Edwards) that was played at Freedom Hall in Louisville, as well as participation in both the prestigious City of Palms Classic in Florida and the Hoophall Classic, which is hosted by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.
During a pre-Sweet 16 meeting with media members on Monday over Zoom, Valentine said that while moments of second-guessing did occur, he didn’t regret putting together such a difficult and high-profile playing schedule for the Jaguars this season.
Additionally, Valentine spoke about how Sheppard has carried himself during a senior season full of attention, from being the target of verbal attacks by opposing student sections, to staying late after games to sign autographs and take photos with fans.
“You have no idea what it’s like to walk in Reed Sheppard’s shoes, and 99.9% of people never will,” Valentine said. “Everybody thinks that it’s this fantasy world where you have everybody wanting to just take pictures and sign autographs, but the things that that kid has endured.”
“We go to a game, whether we win or lose, he plays great or bad, he’s got a line of 50 people,” Valentine added. “Most of the time it’s the student section that’s yelled at him the whole game and heckled him the whole game, (now) wanting to get his autograph and take a picture with him. He does it. He does it and he puts a smile on his face no matter how good or how bad it is.”
Kentucky 2023 recruiting class update
Sheppard is one of five players set to join Kentucky next season as incoming freshmen in the class of 2023.
Sheppard is joined by backcourt players Robert Dillingham and DJ Wagner, small forward Justin Edwards and center Aaron Bradshaw.
Kentucky has the top-ranked recruiting class in 2023 according to 247Sports, ESPN, On3 and Rivals.
Dillingham played his final pre-college season at Overtime Elite, an Atlanta-based professional league for high school basketball players.
Bradshaw and Wagner both had their high school careers end prematurely at Camden (N.J.) after the school was removed from the state tournament following a fight that took place during a county championship game.
A club basketball team consisting of Camden players appears set to compete in a 16-team single-elimination event in Atlanta at the end of the month.
Edwards is still playing at Imhotep Institute in his native Philadelphia and already led the school to a Public league title this season. Imhotep is still in the running for a Pennsylvania state championship in Class 5A.
Bradshaw, Edwards, Sheppard and Wagner are all McDonald’s All-American selections. Dillingham was not eligible to be named a McDonald’s All-American.
This is part of a series of articles that will recap the high school seasons of incoming UK men’s basketball freshmen, top recruits currently being pursued by the Wildcats and other top men’s college basketball recruits from the state of Kentucky.
▪ Travis Perry (2024 UK recruit)
▪ Robert Dillingham (2023 UK signee)
This story was originally published March 17, 2023 at 10:40 AM.
