Kentucky basketball commitment page: What to know about UK recruit Reed Sheppard
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Bio information, video highlights and the latest rankings for all of Kentucky’s basketball commitments and recruiting targets for the class of 2021 and beyond. These pages include John Calipari’s quotes on the UK signees for next season, as well as the newest Crystal Ball predictions for the Wildcats’ top uncommitted targets.
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Kentucky basketball commitment page: What to know about UK recruit Reed Sheppard
Reed Sheppard became Kentucky’s first basketball commitment for the 2023 recruiting class on Nov. 20, delighting Wildcats’ fans across the commonwealth who have been following his young career for the past couple of seasons.
Sheppard is the son of UK basketball greats Jeff Sheppard and Stacey Reed Sheppard, two of the most memorable Kentucky players on their respective teams over the past 25 years. The 17-year-old will also have an opportunity to make his mark on UK basketball history, and he made an early commitment to the Cats with two more seasons of high school ahead of him.
REED SHEPPARD
- Combo guard
- Hometown: London, Ky.
- North Laurel High School
- 6-foot-3, 170 pounds
- 247Sports: No. 17 overall
- Rivals.com: No. 17 overall
- ESPN.com: No. 34 overall
Sheppard averaged more than 20 points per game as a freshman and led the state in scoring with 30.1 points per game as a sophomore before bursting onto the national recruiting scene with an impressive showing on the Adidas circuit in the summer of 2021.
That marked the first time that college coaches were able to see Sheppard play in person, due to previous restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and he picked up a slew of high-major scholarship offers as a result of his play with the Midwest Basketball Club.
Ultimately, Sheppard chose Kentucky over fellow finalists Louisville, Indiana, Ohio State and Virginia. He and his family visited the campuses of all of those schools before Sheppard made his recruiting decision.
The 6-foot-3 guard has the ability to play both on and off the ball at the college level. He’s a great passer and playmaker in the backcourt and has employed a team-first approach on both his high school and AAU teams despite his overwhelming talent as a scorer. Sheppard is also a major threat from three-point range, knocking down 40.9 percent of his outside shots as a sophomore.
Defensively, Sheppard has tremendous natural instincts, quick hands, and an ability to make plays without committing fouls. His all-around game and high floor as a prospect prompted 247Sports and Rivals.com to rank him as a five-star national recruit following the summer grassroots schedule.
UK Coach John Calipari extended a scholarship offer to Sheppard less than 24 hours after watching him play in person for the first time, and the in-state standout was in Rupp Arena for the program’s Big Blue Madness event in October. By the time of his commitment, Sheppard had emerged as one of Kentucky’s primary recruiting targets for the 2023 cycle.
Quotable
“His versatility is really interesting, because you can play him at either guard spot. I think you’d rather him (play) off the ball, just because he can shoot the ball so well. I mean, he really fills it up. If you leave him open, it’s almost automatic. So I’d like to have him at the ‘2,’ but he handles the ball well enough and he makes good enough decisions with the basketball to play the point, too. And I think that’s kind of rare. A lot of guards say they’re combo guards. He’s truly a combo guard.” — Rivals.com national analyst Rob Cassidy
What’s next?
Sheppard still has two more seasons of high school basketball ahead of him and won’t be able to officially sign with the Wildcats until November 2022. His immediate goals will be focused on his junior year and trying to help North Laurel win a region championship and advance to the Sweet Sixteen at Rupp Arena in March.
This story was originally published November 20, 2021 at 9:10 AM.
