Reeves Leads Wildcats to 96-70 Win Over Illinois State

By Jamie H. Vaught

Senior Antonio Reeves will never forget Kentucky’s 96-70 victory over his former school, Illinois State, Friday night at Rupp Arena.

Reeves, who starred at Illinois State for three seasons before coming to UK in 2022, helped the No. 8 Wildcats notch their 10th win of the season against two losses as he gunned in a game-high 27 points, including 4 of 8 three-pointers.

Antonio Reeves of Kentucky goes up for a basket against Illinois State Friday night at Rupp Arena. (Photo by Robert Raymond)

Coming off a remarkable 30-point performance on the road against the Louisville Cardinals last week, Reeves was asked after the game about playing against his former college.

"Yeah, it meant everything to play on the floor with them,” said Reeves, who spent extra time practicing Thursday. “I have been here for two years, but it was awesome. It is a great feeling."

Said freshman Rob Dillingham, “We expect a big game from Antonio every game so it's no different, so when Antonio scores a lot, we blow a team out. When he doesn't score a lot, we just get the dub barely, but when someone scores the ball, we play well.”

Illinois State coach Ryan Pedon was asked about the growth of Reeves since the 6-foot-6 guard transferred.

“When I got there, Antonio was already on his way into the portal, so I only had a few conversations with him,” said Pedon. “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. 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.”

Added UK coach John Calipari, “He (Reeves) has been great. Do you know who was in the gym last night after shots? He had 1,400 shots in yesterday, 400 of them came after dinner.”

The Wildcats, who hit 57.1 percent of their field goals along with 23 assists, nearly came up with a total of six players scoring in double figures. In addition to Reeves’ 27 points, freshmen Rob Dillingham and D.J. Wagner added 16 and 14 points, respectively. Dillingham also had seven assists, three boards and a career-high three steals.

Freshman Reed Sheppard of London, Ky., had 11 points, five rebounds, five assists, two blocks and two steals.

On UK’s shooting this season, Reeves said, “Yeah, it's a community out there. The guys find me on the court and other guys.”

While Calipari praised the Wildcats’ overall play this season, he wasn’t very pleased with his team’s rebounding performance against Illinois State. The Redbirds, who had 24 offensive rebounds, grabbed 45 rebounds overall, five more than Kentucky.

Reeves agreed that the team needs to continue to work on "rebounding. We have been having trouble rebounding. Also getting better at boxing out players. And to make sure to square up on a guy and being physical to keep up. "

Kentucky returns to action Saturday, Jan. 6 with its Southeastern Conference opener at Florida. The 12:30 p.m. ET game will be televised on ESPN.

Jamie H. Vaught, a longtime sports columnist in Kentucky, is the author of six books about UK basketball, including recently-published “Forever Crazy About the Cats: An Improbable Journey of a Kentucky Sportswriter Overcoming Adversity." He is the editor and founder of KySportsStyle.com Magazine, and a professor at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Middlesboro. You can follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @KySportsStyle or reach him via email at KySportsStyle@gmail.com.