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Kentucky fifth-year player Antonio Reeves admitted he was excited to play against some former teammates at Northern Illinois recently. He validated that by scoring 27 points on 10-for-15 shooting, including 4-for-8 from 3-point range, in UK’s 96-70 win.
Reeves also had six rebounds and two assists in 34 minutes and did not have a turnover.
Current Illinois State coach Ryan Pedon took over the program the same year Reeves transferred to Kentucky for the 2022-23 season.
“When I got there Antonio was already on his way into the portal, so I only had a few conversations with him. I will say this, I was very impressed with him as a young man after having sat down and had a few conversations with him,” Pedon said after the game in Rupp Arena.
“It was pretty obvious to me that he was going to move on, and he was respectful so I have no ill will but the opposite of that actually. I love the way he carries himself and he plays the right way. I have seen real growth in his game from last year to this year. I think he is a gifted scorer and I think he is playing his role well here for this team.”
Freshman guard Rob Dillingham was one of those who reached out to Reeves last summer when Reeves was contemplating not returning to UK for another season.
“We expect a big game from Antonio every game so it’s no different,” Dillingham said after the Northern Illinois game. “When Antonio scores a lot, we blow a team out. When he doesn’t score a lot, we just barely get the dub, but when someone scores the ball we play well.”
Kentucky coach John Calipari obviously wants Reeves to score but that was not what pleased him the most about his guard’s play against Northern Illinois.
“How about he was guarding their best player? Last year he would guard their worst player and now he is our best perimeter defender,” Calipari said.
2 Responses
He is a much more complete player than he was last year.
Yes he is. My hope is that when our bigs get more comfortable they will be able to pick up a lot these blow bys down the lane and send some shots into the seats. When that happens your guards defense will look a whole lot better. UK is decent on defending the 3 when they want to, but the drives to the basket from the opposition has me concerned.