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Reed Sheppard tried his best to make sure he said all the right things about tonight’s game at Louisville.
Even though the Cardinals are 5-6 with losses to Arkansas State, Chattanooga and DePaul, the UK freshman guard pointed out Wednesday that Louisville “should have beat” No. 19 Texas before losing 81-80.
“They’re super aggressive,” Sheppard said. “They’ve got good guards that are getting to the basket, no matter what. They’re not going to let anything stop them from getting to the basket and getting to the foul line.
“So we gotta be sure to just guard our man and just try not to put them on the line. But they’re all really, really good players, and they’re just going to keep getting better and better every game they play.
“And they’re going to be super-pumped to come out and play us. And the crowd’s gonna be loud. It’s gonna be a fun game.”
The crowd will be loud but it might be Kentucky loud. The Cardinals are hoping for a red-out but with the continued speculation that Louisville coach Kenny Payne might be dismissed soon and UK’s dominance in the series, the Yum Center may have more UK fans than Louisville fans tonight.
The Cardinals certainly could use Sheppard and tried to recruit the North Laurel standout even though both his parents played at Kentucky.
“I was always coming to Kentucky,” Sheppard said. “I enjoyed the process. I enjoyed visiting there and being able to go see the coaches and watch the team practice. They have a really nice facility, nice coaches — it’s a really good school.
“I know Kentucky people don’t really like Louisville, but Louisville is still a really nice school, and they have a really good thing going over there.”
Reed’s father, Jeff, was on UK’s 1996 national championship team and 1997 national runner-up team coached by Rick Pitino, who left UK for the Boston Celtics and then returned to Louisville before being forced out. Jeff Sheppard also played on UK’s 1998 national championship team.
Reed Sheppard grew up watching Kentucky-Louisville games and sensing the statewide rivalry.
“No matter where we were, we were watching Kentucky versus Louisville. It’s always been a big game. It’s always been a fun game to watch. The crowd is into it. Both teams play really hard — you gotta respect the game. It’s such a big, big rival,” the UK freshman said.
“I’m looking forward to going up, especially playing at Louisville. The fans will be into it. They’re gonna be playing good. Everyone’s gonna be fighting to win, so it’s gonna be a really fun game and atmosphere.”
Sheppard attended several UK-Louisville games in Rupp Arena but never saw the Cats play in Freedom Hall or the Yum Center where tonight’s game will be.
His parents will be at the game — “They have been that way my whole life. They have always been to every single game. It’s not just starting now that I am at Kentucky,” he said — along with others.
“I think most of my family is trying to make it to this one,” he said.
One Response
Back in 1996 Jeff Sheppard had a huge dunk against Iona in the ECAC invitational game up in NY at Madison Square Garden. That was the spark that propelled the win. I was at that game. I got to share that story with Reed while waiting to get into the Ball State football game. Calipari was at UMass back then and there was some fan that kept yelling "UMass, UMass" to much delite I let him know what rhymes with "UMass"