North Laurel coach Nate Valentine says sophomore Reed Sheppard has some of both his mother's and father's best qualities in his game. (Les Dixon Photo)
North Laurel coach Nate Valentine gets a lot of calls and questions about sophomore Reed Sheppard. One of the most popular questions — is his game more like that of his father, Jeff Sheppard, or mother, Stacey Reed Sheppard. Both are former University of Kentucky players who had terrific careers.
“He can fly through the air like Jeff but he is competitive like Stacey,” said Valentine.
The 6-1 Sheppard is averaging 32 points and eight rebounds per game. He’s hitting 41 percent from 3-point range and 86.2 percent at the foul line. In a win over rival South Laurel last week, he had a triple-double with 50 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds and came back the next night with 30 points, nine rebounds and eight assists in a win over Madison Central.
“He has great court vision and ability to handle the ball,” Valentin said. “He has a great bloodline but more importantly two great parents who understand where the kid is and how to support him.
“They are as hard on him as anybody. He can have a triple-double and they are still on his butt. They are grounded and he is very grounded. He is a terrific kid. Very humble. It would be very easy for him to go the other way and make it all about himself. He’s not like that.”
His parents were not, either. His mother was a Laurel County standout and a top 10 all-time leading scorer at Kentucky. His father was MVP of the 1998 Final Four when Kentucky won the national championship.
“He has a great personality, great demeanor that a lot of college coaches really like and his high school coaches like,” Valentine said. “Part of succeeding at the next level is making others better and being able to fit in. He has been really good at that.”
And really good at everything else when it comes to basketball for 10-0 North Laurel, the state’s highest scoring team.
