‘Remember the 1-of-15’ is not this season’s battle cry for Kentucky’s Antonio Reeves
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When Antonio Reeves, after a bit of drama, decided last summer that he would return to Kentucky to use his final season of men’s college basketball eligibility, it was a big deal on multiple fronts.
It means that John Calipari’s freshman-laden 2023-24 Wildcats will bring back one proven veteran off UK’s 22-12 team from last season.
The return of a 14.4-points-a-game scorer and 39.8% three-point shooter means Kentucky’s infusion of down-hill slashers — D.J. Wagner, Rob Dillingham, Justin Edwards — will be playing this winter with a proven perimeter marksman who can open driving lanes by stretching defenses.
Yet, for my money, the best thing about the return of the 6-foot-6, 195-pound Reeves is that it means the guard’s 1-for-15 shooting nightmare in UK’s 75-69 loss to Kansas State in last season’s NCAA Tournament round of 32 will not be the last time he wears the Kentucky uniform.
You want to see a player as enjoyable to watch perform as is Reeves get a better exit from UK basketball than that.
“Just wasn’t my day,” Reeves said of the K-State shooting futility. “I had never played in March Madness before (last season). Probably, (you needed to) try a little bit harder than I expected just to get you relaxed. Definitely, those things, I just needed to learn. I just want to focus on my next game in March Madness.”
Into late June, it seemed far from certain that Reeves would be performing for UK in his next NCAA Tournament appearance.
After last season, he entered his name into the NBA draft. The widely held expectation at the time was that Reeves, a Chicago native who played his first three college seasons for Illinois State, would test the waters but ultimately pull his name from the draft and return for a super-senior season at Kentucky.
On the last day players could exit the 2023 NBA draft and maintain their college eligibility, Reeves removed his name but did not announce publicly anything about his future.
Rather than make an immediate return to the Big Blue fold, Reeves enrolled for summer classes at his former school, Illinois State. If he earned a degree, the thought was, Reeves would have then potentially been eligible to switch college teams for a second time without penalty as a graduate transfer.
However, after all that, Reeves ultimately chose in late June to return to Kentucky. He did so in time to average 23 points in four exhibition games this summer as UK won the GLOBL Jam — an under-23 international basketball tournament in Toronto.
Before a fire alarm went off in the Joe Craft Center last Wednesday afternoon to prematurely end the UK men’s basketball team’s media day, Reeves downplayed the early-summer uncertainty around his future at Kentucky.
“I always knew what I wanted deep down,” Reeves said. “… (Leaving) is not what I wanted to do. I wanted to keep it simple. This is home for me. That’s how I chose.”
How Reeves spent a good bit of his summer is apparent in the visibly greater muscular definition in his upper body. His time in the weight room, Reeves said, has added five to 10 additional pounds of muscle.
“It makes a big difference,” Reeves said. “Just being able to be more physical down low. Just with rebounding, taking bumps (and finishing through contact), things like that.”
Calipari said Reeves’ increased physicality and his experience of having played a prior season for Kentucky have led to a substantially improved player.
“He is so much a better player than he was a year ago, it’s not even close,” Calipari said. “He is so much more comfortable — even comfortable when things don’t go right. Much more physical and able to get and create stuff. So I’m really happy for him.”
On a Kentucky roster that features nine newcomers among the 12 recruited, scholarship players, Reeves sees one of his primary roles as, essentially, the team’s “big brother.”
Referring to the eight college freshmen with whom he is playing, Reeves said, “I want to come in and teach them the ways of the collegiate level. That’s my main goal.”
If you have wondered, Reeves said “remember the 1-of-15” from his very difficult day against Kansas State in last year’s NCAA Tournament is not his motivational battle cry for the coming season.
“I don’t really think about it too much now,” Reeves said. “I have a whole season ahead of me. This is my last season of college. I just want to enjoy it, for the most part. You don’t get these years back.”
This story was originally published October 30, 2023 at 11:19 AM.
