Vicky Graff Photo
Kentucky guard Antonio Reeves had added another all-American honor with his selection on the United States Basketball Writers Association All-America Third Team.
The USBWA is one of the four “major” NCAA-recognized All-America teams used for consensus All-America teams. Reeves was also a third-team pick by The Sporting News and an honorable mention selection by the Associated Press.
Reeves is UK’s leading scorer at 20.0 points per game, tied for the highest scoring average per game by any player in the John Calipari era along with Jamal Murray (2016), going into tonight’s NCAA Tournament game against Oakland in Pittsburgh.
Reeves is shooting 50.8 percent from the field, 44.1 percent from 3-point range, and 86.9 percent from the free-throw line — all career bests. He is the only Power 5 player averaging at least 1.5 made 3-pointers and shooting at least .490 from the field, .435 from 3-point range, and .865 from the charity stripe.
He has 19 20-point games this season, including a steak of seven straight.
In 10 true road games, Reeves has averaged 22.9 points per game, 48.5 percent from the field, 50.8 percent from 3-point range with 3.3 made 3’s per game, and 82.9 percent at the charity stripe.
He is one of only three active players and 10 all-time to tally 1,000 career points at two different programs. Reeves has scored 1,128 points at UK, the second-most in two years in school history behind 1,213 by Bill Spivey.
Yet with all those numbers, Reeves still seems under-appreciated at times not only by UK fans at times but especially nationally.
Teammate Tre Mitchell said Wednesday it is easy to understand why Reeves gets overlooked at times.
“He’s humble. He’s a humble beast. He’s not a guy that’s going to come out here and brag or seek attention,” Mitchell said. “But on top of that it could be just because we have had some young guys with really big names, and some people are focused on that. But at the end of the day when you look at it, this kid gives us production night in and night out.
“He gives us leadership, and, you know, he does it with the same look on his face the whole time. You never know what’s going through his mind, but you know what you’re going to get from him. So it’s just like he deserves all the recognition that there is. He’s performing. His name should be up there with some of the best of them.”
Teammate Adou Thiero said Reeves’ consistency is amazing.
“Even if other teams are trying to take away his scoring ability, he’s able to do the little things, whether it’s get a rebound, go back up for a putback, play defense, all that,” Thiero said. “Like he’s able to do everything.
“And then we just have multiple parts on this team. So I feel like because we have Reed, Rob, D.J., Justin, all the other freshmen, like all the freshmen — I’d say all our freshmen are good players. So they’re getting more to shine and kind of overlooking Antonio, but at the end of the day, you look at the stats. Stats don’t lie.”
2 Responses
Reeves has been the most consistent player on the team all year. Yes he’s a 5th year senior but just because he’s that doesn’t mean he will produce at the level he’s producing at. I think he’s top 3 shooting guard in college and the way he scores translates to professional ball. The NBA would be stupid to not want a 6’6" shooting guard who can score at all 3 levels. I think he looks like a NBA player. So we will see. He might get drafted late second round. If this was 25 years ago he would be a first round pick. Times have definitely changed.
Stats don’t lie about much, but much ignore the stats.
This season ends exactly the way the stats said it would in November after seeing how this team plays its first 5 to 8 games.