There’s a lesson to be learned from what Antonio Reeves is giving UK
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NCAA Tournament game day: Kentucky 61, Providence 53
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 Providence in the NCAA Tournament at Greensboro, N.C.
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Conversing with reporters in a happy Kentucky locker room Friday night after the Wildcats had claimed their first NCAA Tournament victory since 2019, Antonio Reeves kept peppering his remarks with the same word.
After scoring 22 points to lead UK to a 61-53 round-of-64 victory over Providence in a game in which almost all the other shooters for both teams were, literally, wild, Reeves said “to be here in this position is an honor. I’m grateful.”
If Kentucky is going to make the 2023 men’s NCAA tourney into a redemption tour, it’s possible the 6-foot-5, 205-pound Reeves might prove to be the Wildcats’ difference-maker.
Next up for the Wildcats in an NCAA Tournament East Region that has already lost its No. 1 seed, Purdue, to a “Fairleigh” stunning upset is No. 3 seed Kansas State on Sunday in the round of 32 at Greensboro Coliseum.
The value of Reeves, a Chicago native who transferred to UK after three seasons playing for Illinois State, was on vivid display in the victory over Providence.
Reeves hit eight field goals. The rest of the Kentucky team combined to make 15. From behind the three-point arc, Reeves hit five shots. The other UK players combined to make zero.
It was an impressive NCAA tourney debut for a guy who never tasted March Madness in his three seasons toiling in the Missouri Valley Conference.
“Oh, man, it felt crazy,” Reeves said. “I felt so much energy coming up from me and so much good feeling. It was different. My first time ever playing in (the NCAA Tournament). I was just so grateful for the opportunity to be here.”
There is a lesson to be learned in the path Reeves took from toiling in Normal, Ill., to playing in one of the most tradition-rich programs in men’s college hoops.
Reeves, of course, was not a member of the Kentucky team that was stunned 85-79 in overtime by No. 15 seed Saint Peter’s in the 2022 NCAA tourney round of 64. So he is free of any of the torment or doubts that might afflict his veteran UK teammates who were part of that jarring experience.
When asked, Reeves said he did not watch Kentucky fall to Saint Peter’s on TV. “I know it was a shocker. I know the guys were heated about it,” Reeves said.
On display in the first half of UK’s win over Providence was the capacity Reeves brings as a weapon who can break open games.
With a sluggish UK having built a 30-25 lead over Providence late in half one, Reeves buried a three-point jumper to push the lead to eight with 2:13 left in the half.
On the ensuing trip down court, Providence star — and ex-Cat — Bryce Hopkins slipped a screen and broke into the clear for what looked like it was going to be a muscular dunk.
Instead, Kentucky’s Jacob Toppin soared in and pinned the ball on the backboard for a blocked shot.
UK got the ball moving forward in transition and CJ Fredrick found an open Reeves with a pass that led to another trey with 1:44 left in the half.
In a matter of 29 seconds, Reeves added six points to the Kentucky lead. Providence never fully dug from that hole.
For what it’s worth, Reeves maintained he was in position to block Hopkins’ dunk — until Toppin swooped in to pin it.
“It was ridiculous,” Reeves said. “I jumped first and I tried to block the shot. But Jacob just came in, all over my back, and just beat (the ball) off the glass. I was like, ‘What is going on?’”
Toppin, meanwhile, claimed to be incredulous at even the idea Reeves might have blocked Hopkins’ shot.
“He can’t even jump,” Toppin said of Reeves.
What Reeves can do is shoot.
Yet Reeves began his college career with two relatively nondescript seasons at Illinois State. As a freshman in 2019-20, he made only 38.4 percent of his shots and averaged 7.2 points. The following year, he hit 42.5 percent of his field goals but only 30.6 percent of his three-point tries while averaging 12.4 points.
“I really didn’t have good seasons,” Reeves said.
His response to those struggles was to embrace an old-fashioned dedication to his craft.
“Junior year, I worked the hardest. I just made sure I got in the gym every day that summer,” Reeves said. “Some basketball players, in the summer, they chill out. I was always in the gym. I was always working on what I needed to do to grow as a ballplayer.”
The following season, Reeves raised his shooting percentages to 46.9 and 39.0 on field goals and treys, respectively, and his scoring average to 20.1.
That breakthrough year led Reeves into the transfer portal and to a chance to play for Kentucky. He will enter the Kansas State contest making 41.4 percent of his three-pointers and averaging 14.6 points. After Providence, the Cats are now 7-3 in games in which Reeves has scored 20 points or more.
The transformative value of hard work brought Antonio Reeves to Kentucky. UK backers should be grateful for that.
This story was originally published March 18, 2023 at 12:29 AM.
