Antonio Reeves will need help from 3-point range this season. Who’s going to step up?

Antonio Reeves can shoot the basketball. There’s no disputing that.

He has proven it time and again over the past two seasons — his junior year at Illinois State and then as a transfer at Kentucky — letting fly at a high volume and connecting on 39.4% of his long-range attempts during that span.

What happened in Reeves’ most recent college game — a 1-for-10 performance from deep (1 of 15 overall) in an NCAA Tournament loss to Kansas State — doesn’t define the 22-year-old guard. What that game did illustrate is that Reeves can’t do it alone.

But that’s what he was asked to do for much of last season, especially toward the end.

By the time the postseason came around, the Wildcats were struggling from 3-point range, and Reeves was left on an island due to the injuries and inconsistencies around him.

Over the course of the entire season, he made 80 3-pointers. The next two UK players on that list — Cason Wallace (44) and CJ Fredrick (34) — were both playing through injuries at the end. (And no one else on the team made more than 18 3-pointers all season.) Wallace had moved into more of an on-the-ball role due to the absence of veteran point guard Sahvir Wheeler, who sat out the final 11 games of the season. Fredrick was battling through a painful rib injury that left him playing limited minutes and not nearly as effective on the court.

In the 12 games leading up to that NCAA Tournament loss, Reeves made 33 3-pointers and shot 45.8% from deep. His teammates combined to make 28 3-pointers and shot 25%. In UK’s four losses during that 12-game span, Reeves was just 9-for-29 (31%), and there was no one to pick him up. The other Cats shot 11-for-48 (22.9%) from deep during those four defeats. No other Kentucky player made more than two 3-pointers in any of those games.

It all caught up with the Cats when Reeves went ice-cold at the wrong time. But even great shooters have bad games, and it was bound to happen at some point in the NCAA Tournament.

For this Kentucky team to be truly great, others will need to step up and ensure it doesn’t happen again.

The 2023-24 edition of the Wildcats are expected to play a different style than Kentucky teams of the recent past. Without All-America center Oscar Tshiebwe clogging up the paint — and with UK’s current centers all sidelined — John Calipari is going with 6-9 forward Tre Mitchell at the 5 spot, and the Wildcats have played quite a bit of five-out offense over the course of the preseason.

There has even been talk of these Cats averaging more than 20 3-point attempts per game. That has never happened in the Calipari era, and — for as fun as this offense looks like it could be — it probably won’t happen this season either. (In five of the past six years, Kentucky has finished 320th or lower nationally in 3-point attempts per game.)

Calipari fanned the flames of a 3-heavy approach over the summer but has since tamped down that talk. Even Reeves, who we all know loves to launch it, hesitated when asked if he thought this team might rely on perimeter shooting in tough spots.

“Ummm …,” Reeves started, before giving a diplomatic reply that indicated he didn’t really think that would be the case. This team has great drivers — five-star freshmen D.J. Wagner, Rob Dillingham and Justin Edwards among them — and Calipari wants these Cats to attack the rim.

But they’ll need to make 3-pointers, too. And UK’s coach has been imploring his young players to shoot it if they’re open. This time around, it can’t all be on Reeves. He’s confident it won’t.

“We got a lot of guys that can shoot the ball, when they’re open. Or contested,” Reeves said. “They can just create for themselves and be able to knock it down with long balls. … And that opens up the (floor). That definitely helps. People have to play the shot. If they don’t play the shot, we’ll be able to all knock it down.”

So, which Wildcats are most likely to knock it down?

Reed Sheppard

The Herald-Leader asked several Kentucky players the same question: Other than Reeves … who’s the best 3-point shooter on this team? One caveat: The player being asked couldn’t name himself.

Turns out that wasn’t necessary.

Just about everyone mentioned Reed Sheppard, and most acknowledged up front that the reigning Kentucky Mr. Basketball was a better shooter than them.

“Reed. For sure,” Rob Dillingham said.

“I’d say Reed,” Justin Edwards said.

Reeves himself said he’s confident in all of his teammates, but he also mentioned Sheppard first when discussing the best of the rest.

“Definitely, Reed is one of the guys that can knock it down, for sure,” Reeves said. “When he has an open jumper, he knocks it down consistently.”

Edwards said that in Calipari’s regular five-minute shooting drills — where the goal is to hit as many 3s as possible in that time frame — it’s pretty much always Sheppard who’s right there with Reeves, noting that both players are sometimes in “the 70s” — as far as makes.

Dillingham backed that up.

“Tone always wins. Mostly,” he said. “But Reed gets him some days. Reed be killing him. Because Reed can really shoot the ball.”

Sheppard hasn’t quite shown it yet — he’s a combined 7-for-25 from deep over the team’s GLOBL JAM trip to Canada, the Blue-White Game and the two recent exhibitions — but anyone who has ever watched him for any extended period knows he can fill it up.

Over his last three seasons of high school, Sheppard shot 39.3, 38.2 and 40.9% from 3-point range, and he made 239 treys in 98 games over that span, despite being the intense focus of every opposing defense.

Tre Mitchell

Reeves’ fellow fifth-year player, Tre Mitchell — the only other scholarship upperclassman on the roster — has actually been the Wildcats’ best 3-point shooter, percentage-wise, from the basketball that’s been played so far.

Combining the GLOBL JAM, the Blue-White Game and the two exhibitions, he has shot 17 of 32 from deep (53.1%). Reeves has more makes (25) but a slightly lower percentage (47.1).

In the Wildcats’ final exhibition Thursday night, Mitchell hit his first three 3-point attempts — all in a span of 1 minute, 45 seconds. Afterward, a reporter noted that Calipari typically doesn’t want his big men shooting 3s. How did the transfer convince his new coach to let him do it?

“I just did it,” Mitchell replied. “You prove that you can do it, there’s not much he’s gonna say if it goes in the hoop.”

The 23-year-old shot 36.4% from deep at West Virginia last season and is a 34.7% shooter over his four years of college. He said he has worked consistently on becoming a better shooter and has always tried to be a player who can “do everything” on the court.

What’s his range?

“Wherever,” Mitchell said confidently. “If I’m open, I’m gonna let it go.”

Justin Edwards

Projected by some to be the No. 1 pick in next year’s NBA draft, freshman Justin Edwards looks the part of an all-star basketball player. He’s 6-8, he moves fluidly, and he has a smooth shot that just seems like it’s going in whenever he lets it go. He can also rise over smaller defenders with that long frame.

The results haven’t been there yet — 9-for-33 on 3s across all of UK’s competition this preseason, and just 2-for-10 in the Blue-White Game and the two exhibitions — but he showed in high school that he can knock it down from deep, and Edwards should be able to carry that over to the next level.

Calipari will want him to attack the basket when the opportunity is there, but if Edwards has an open look from deep, he’s going to take it.

He said he’s usually not far behind Reeves and Sheppard in those five-minute shooting drills in practice. And Calipari is likely going to give him as many minutes as he can play.

The wild cards

If the Cats can get some consistent shooting from even one of the trio of D.J. Wagner, Rob Dillingham and Adou Thiero, they could be a dangerous bunch.

Edwards mentioned Wagner and Dillingham as guys who shoot well in practice. Both have a history of being streaky in actual games. It’s a point of emphasis for Wagner this season — he was just 2-for-9 in the two exhibitions — and Dillingham acknowledged he’s not on the level of Reeves or Sheppard.

“I’m just an ‘all right’ shooter compared to them,” he said with a big laugh, while also noting that he can get hot and win one of those five-minute drills from time to time.

The 6-3 freshman said he’s still learning when to take his shots and when to pass them up, quite the adjustment coming off a high school and AAU career where he was the go-to guy.

“And learning not to force shots, because I’ve always had to play on teams where I’m shooting the ball a lot,” he said. “So really just learning to take certain shots while being able to balance and throw the ball and find teammates.”

Thiero shot just nine 3s in 190 minutes last season, making three of them. He was 0-for-6 at the GLOBL JAM and 0-for-1 over the two exhibition games, though he went 3-for-5 at the Blue-White scrimmage. During pregame warmups Thursday night, Thiero made 11 of 12 deep balls in one sequence, the only miss dipping down into the cylinder before rolling out. His stroke looks completely different from last season’s delivery, and he said he has been working closely with new assistant coach John Welch to tighten up his shot.

“So I know my shot. I’m more confident in it,” Thiero said. “I think people saw in the Blue-White Game — I’m running down the court, and if I catch it in transition, I’m going to shoot it. I’m a lot more comfortable with my shot now.”

Calipari said last week that the 6-8 sophomore has the capability to be “one of the best finishers” in college basketball, but he also said Thiero needs to take open 3s if they’re there.

Freshman guard Joey Hart — a three-star recruit and late addition to the 2023 class — is also known as a top 3-point shooter, though he’s not expected to get significant minutes this season.

Kentucky’s 7-footers

It appears that UK will start the season with all three of its 7-footers — Aaron Bradshaw, Zvonimir Ivisic and Ugonna Onyenso — sidelined. Bradshaw and Onyenso are still recovering from injuries. Ivisic is still awaiting word on his NCAA eligibility.

Both Calipari and assistant coach Orlando Antigua have said recently that — when those players return, specifically Bradshaw and Ivisic — the Cats should be able to play the same style as with Mitchell at the 5, simply because both of those freshman 7-footers have the capability to stretch the floor beyond the 3-point line.

Onyenso can also face the rim, but his range doesn’t extend that far.

Bradshaw has shown off his smooth-for-a-7-footer stroke in preseason shootarounds. Ivisic has already wowed teammates with his ability to make 3s — and create space to do so with a ball-handling ability unique for a 7-2 player — in early practices.

“Bigs are gonna have to play our bigs, because they can shoot,” Edwards said. “So they won’t be able to just play them like any other big and like linger in the paint, you know?”

Having those guys leave the basket area will also open up the court for Kentucky’s talented drivers. Calipari might not want this team to take 20 3-pointers every game, but he’s already empowered them to let loose if the opportunity is there.

“He sees the work that we put in, and he believes in us,” Mitchell said. “We’ve proven ourselves on multiple occasions, whether it be practice, games, whatever … He’s just like, ‘If you’re open, shoot it.’”

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