Wildcats Today

Reed Sheppard receives the Wayman Tisdale Freshman of the Year Award

Reed Sheppard keeps racking up awards.

Andrew Stefaniak

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Heading into the 2023-24 Kentucky basketball season, no one expected Reed Sheppard to have the season he has for the Wildcats. 

We were having conversations about whether or not Sheppard would even play relevant minutes, and now he has become one of the best players in all of college basketball. He has averaged 12.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 4.5 assists this season while shooting a whopping 52.5% from three, which is incredible. 

Sheppard's play for the Wildcats during the regular season earned him the Wayman Tisdale Freshman of the Year Award. The Kentucky guard is the third Wildcat to win it, as John Wall and Anthony Davis also won the award. 

Sheppard's ability to shoot the basketball, facilitate an offense, and create so much havoc on defense with his quick hands is what makes him such an exciting prospect.

If Kentucky makes a run in the NCAA Tournament, this likely won't be the last award that Sheppard wins, thanks to his historic freshman season.  

Derek Parker of FanNation's NBA Draft page had this to say about Sheppard and how he projects as a pro, "The eye test backs up Sheppard's play even more. He’s one of the more sure-handed players we’ve covered, and has an extremely replicable outside shot and defensive tendencies, regardless of the jump to the NBA. Some teams might be out on Sheppard purely due to his size. But others are likely moving him up the board with a quickness, potentially as high as the top-five. The history of undersized guards succeeding in the NBA isn't a long one. But of the ones that have — Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, Darius Garland and more — several possess similar traits to Sheppard in terms of feel for the game, decision-making and versatility."

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Andrew Stefaniak
ANDREW STEFANIAK