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D.J. Wagner is the marquee name in Kentucky’s highly-touted freshman class but he’s not been the best freshman guard at UK this season.
That has been Reed Sheppard who leads the team in 3-point shooting and steals. He also leads the team in making more sound basketball plays than anyone else so far this season.
Wagner missed the loss to UNC-Wilmington with an ankle injury suffered the previous game. He practiced just one day before scoring nine points on 4-for-9 shooting and dishing out a team-high seven assists in an 81-66 victory over Penn Saturday in Philadelphia.
“When he got hurt, he never was in (practice) until one and I said, ‘I want to start you.’ And (Wagner) says, ‘You should start Reed (Sheppard).’ I said, ‘No, I’m starting you to make sure you’re OK, and your leadership and how you play is going to be good for this group,’” Kentucky coach John Calipari said after the win.
That was the correct response from Wagner because he knew Sheppard had a huge game in his absence and he had only practiced one day. However, Calipari also probably made the correct response by starting Wagner in his homecoming game and also to maintain his confidence.
Sheppard has been fine coming off the bench and had six points on 2-for-4 shooting, five rebounds, three steals, three assists and one block in 29 productive minutes where he again had the highest plus/minus of anyone on the team.
“What DJ gives this team is a toughness,” Calipari said after the win. “You ready for this statement, because I’ve watched him — will to win. He’s not afraid that we’re gonna lose. We’re not thinking about losing, we got a will to win.
“He leads our team. He talks like he’s a senior. He gathers them and builds their confidence because of what he says to them. And now he’s getting more consistent and doing all the other stuff. Defensively today he did a heck of a job.”
Wagner does bring a contagious passion that teammates seem to respond to during games. His energy can help motivate others.
“This guy, whatever I say to do, he does it,” Calipari said about Wagner. “That moment, he does it. Trying to get him to shoot the ball a little bit higher. So he’s worked on it. Trying to get him to cut hard, he does it.”
4 Responses
That’s a great quality to have as long as he lets the game come to him so as to keep everyone else involved. Defend, rebound, dish…that makes for a winning team, scoring comes easy when everyone does that.
Got to have a few players that just won’t back down, not afraid to get a shot blocked, not afraid to put their head down and drive it hard, not afraid to take that last shot. I like the rotation of the guards.
So do I Old Fan
Same here. Any one of them can get you 20 on any given night. Let’s go Cats and beat the pale blue cry babies! ! !
Keep up the good work. Go Blue or stay home!