After do-it-all high school career, Reed Sheppard is finding his role with UK basketball

From Nov. 20, 2021, when Reed Sheppard — then a junior at North Laurel High School in London — committed to play basketball at Kentucky, the countdown was on for UK’s next in-state star to debut for the Wildcats.

The expectation for that moment only grew as Sheppard, the son of two UK basketball legends in Stacey Reed Sheppard and Jeff Sheppard, blossomed into a national recruit.

And while a full-blown, regular-season debut is still yet to occur, Sheppard has already suited up plenty of times for Kentucky.

There were the four games Sheppard played at the offseason GLOBL JAM tournament in Canada, which included an outing of 14 points, four assists and four steals in a win over the host nation.

Last week brought Sheppard’s first game as a Wildcat inside Rupp Arena: He had nine points in Kentucky’s exhibition victory over Georgetown College.

Thursday will bring more of the same as Sheppard and his new-look UK team finish exhibition play against Kentucky State, with the regular-season opener against New Mexico State just days away.

“It’s always been my dream to play here, so finally being here is really, really special to me,” Sheppard said during last month’s UK media day. “Actually, it’s easier now because you’re here and you can just kind of take a deep breath and just enjoy it.”

For all the storylines swirling around head coach John Calipari’s team this season at Kentucky, Sheppard’s ability to adapt to a different role compared to his high school days has gotten somewhat lost in the shuffle.

That’s largely because, so far, Sheppard has transformed his playing style without much issue.

Across his five seasons at North Laurel, Sheppard (who played varsity basketball as an eighth grader) developed into the kind of do-it-all player capable of leading the Jaguars to repeat state tournament appearances in 2022 and 2023.

His stat-stuffing performances led to selections earlier this year as both a McDonald’s All-American (becoming the first Kentucky boys high school player with that honor since 2011) and as Kentucky Mr. Basketball.

But the Reed Sheppard of North Laurel won’t, and can’t, be the same Reed Sheppard of Kentucky.

Not with the five-star freshman teammates that litter the Kentucky roster. Not with a veteran fifth-year guard in Antonio Reeves returning. And not with the kind of fast-paced playing style UK figures to employ, at least to start the season.

So, Sheppard has adapted.

“I would say just making the right play, making the simple play. If I’m open, shoot it. If not, pass it to one of my teammates. They’re all great players, can really, really score,” Sheppard said of how he views his on-court role. “So just doing the little things, getting my hands on balls defensively, going in (and) throwing a lob, getting a steal, all that stuff, so just anything I can (do) really to help the team win.”

Sheppard said his biggest improvement, basketball-wise, so far at Kentucky has come in his communication and in being a better teammate.

“It’s a lot different (compared to North Laurel), but at the end of the day it’s super, super fun and this is what I’ve wanted my whole life. I knew it would be this way. I don’t want to go out and shoot 30 shots a game,” Sheppard said. “I want to go out and be able to make the right basketball play and maybe if you get a little tired, throw it to a wing and go stand in the corner and let someone else go get a bucket and that’s what we have here. We have a room full of bucket getters and just a coaching staff that really believes in every one of us.”

“I think it’s allowed him to play really, really loose and free,” UK associate coach Orlando Antigua said. “At times, we challenge him to be a little more selfish because the play is for him to make the basket and he loves to elevate and facilitate and move the ball.”

That last part of Antigua’s comment remains the biggest hurdle with Sheppard.

As Antigua describes it, Sheppard is in the thick of a learning curve that affects all college basketball freshmen: Knowing when to pounce on a play designed for them.

“OK, that play right there called for you to shoot the ball, not to be looking for somebody else to shoot the ball,” Antigua said. “So getting him to understand those opportunities. He’ll always look to make the next pass and the extra pass, but there’s opportunities where he has to be the one to (go score). He’s finding that rhythm.”

Calipari has singled out several Sheppard moments already as indicators of his early success, including the five blocks Sheppard had across the four games at GLOBL JAM.

Sheppard adjusts to life at Kentucky, on and off the court

Something that can’t be overstated is the off-court dynamic that is distinct to Sheppard.

Prior to North Laurel’s appearance at the state tournament this year, head coach Nate Valentine detailed the daily grind that could have weighed Sheppard down.

“You have no idea what it’s like to walk in Reed Sheppard’s shoes, and 99.9% of people never will,” Valentine said. “We go to a game, whether we win or lose, he plays great or bad, he’s got a line of 50 people. 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.”

Sheppard has not only shouldered this burden during the early stages of his Kentucky career, but he’s embraced it.

“I think if you go out and you read everything and you look and listen to what people are saying it can really, really get you,” Sheppard said. “But if you just go out and have fun and just do what you need to do and just lock into the close group of friends and teammates that are around you and the coaches, it makes it really easy to just go out and have fun and enjoy it.”

New UK assistant coach Chuck Martin was more or less an outsider to the Sheppard story before joining the Wildcats’ coaching staff this summer.

In just a few months, he’s arrived at the same conclusion everyone else has about Sheppard.

“He’s made it seem effortless,” Martin said. “You watch him interact with people, you watch him interact with his teammates, with the coaches, he’s just a natural. He understands what this place is, he understands the demands. He gets his relationship to the university, his relationship to the state, his relationship to Coach Cal. And that’s a really difficult thing to do.”

And there’s another conclusion Martin has drawn about Sheppard.

“He’s really good.”

Thursday

Kentucky State at No. 16 Kentucky

What: The second of UK’s two preseason exhibition games against in-state opponents

When: 7 p.m.

TV: SEC Network Plus (online only)

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1