John Calipari is learning to tolerate an occasional miscue by Reed Sheppard. (Vicky Graff Photo)
With D.J. Wagner not playing the last three games because of an ankle injury, freshman Reed Sheppard has played the majority of the game’s minutes at point guard.
He played 36 minutes at Vanderbilt Tuesday night. He had six points on 2-for-5 shooting from 3 — a good percentage for most but well below his season average — along with five rebounds, five steals, three assists and one block.
Corey Price of the UK Sports Network noted that Sheppard is the first player in the John Calipari era to have at least six points, five rebounds, five steals, and three assists in a true road game.
“Reed had five rebounds, all defensive rebounds. He was back in there and mixing it up. He had five steals and one block too,” said UK All-American Jack Givens on the UK Radio Network. “He didn’t shoot it well and everybody seems to think how well you play is based on what you do offensively. He did not shoot like he normally does but he made so many other things happen.”
Kentucky coach John Calipari is learning about the give-and-take with Sheppard’s play, especially on defense where he can get beat at times but also make huge plays at other times.
Sheppard is now one of only eight UK players ever with 50 steals and 50 3-pointers in a single season as he joins Rex Chapman (1987-88), John Pelphrey (1991-92), Jamal Mashburn (1991-92, 92-93), Travis Ford (1992-93), Tony Delk (1993-94, 94-95, 95-96), Anthony Epps (1996-97) and Tyler Ulis (2015-16) on the select list.
Sheppard is also the only player in the nation this year with at least 50 steals, 50 3-pointers and 90 assists and under 40 turnovers despite the four he made against Vanderbilt.
“Well, he threw a spinner (pass). Why would you do that? I mean, what are you doing? He just throws it in there. I think he just does it without thinking,” Calipari said after the win at Vanderbilt.
The UK coach has learned to accept how Sheppard plays defense much like he has learned to live with occasional bloopers by Rob Dillingham on offense because he can be such an explosive scorer.
“I was telling him today, what he does defensively, he’s kind of like what Rob is on offense,” Calipari said after the Vanderbilt win. “You’ve got to let him go a little bit, and then you’ve got to let him do a couple things and then don’t accept it. Because he’ll keep going that way.
“Reed is (that) defensively because he gets his hands on balls, he blocks, he steals, (and) he goes rogue. And just leaves. Like, why did you do that? So I’ve got to let some of it go because he is so good with his hands.
“But I’ve also got to tell him, ‘Late in the game, you’re not leaving a 3-point shooter thinking you’re stealing a ball.’ You can’t. You can’t go rogue at certain times. But I’ve got to let him do it a little bit because I don’t know if there’s another player that has better hands than he has.”
That’s a change for Calipari with both Dillingham and Sheppard. He’s learned to tolerate a head-scratching misuse or two because of what both can do to make game-changing plays.
7 Responses
Interesting observation Larry. The real story here is that Reed can be just as good as Dilly on both ends of the floor; Dilly is all offense and very little defense.
Reed defense hasn’t been all there either at times. I’ve seen the opposing players blows by him as well.
What? Mr. Positive is saying something negative? What a two face!
You need read the facts I said at times, maybe your brain is needs a exam. Smart a__
I see that 3rd grade education didn’t teach you much.
You can say all you want, I’m moving on before Larry cuts us both off. I’ll stick to the basics what the site is about.
Well.. Big z shot the ball , Burks shot the ball. Only so many possessions in a game. Everyone eats.