Kentucky ,Reed Sheppard makes final call on future’…READ MORE

The Kentucky Wildcats lost in overtime versus the Florida Gators, 94-91, but guard Reed Sheppard stood out with 24.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 6.0 assists.

Sheppard, assessed at $212,000 by the NIL, played all 45 minutes in an all-action performance in the absence of starting guard DJ Wagner, demonstrating to coach John Calipari that he was ready to start.

Afterward, his longterm girlfriend, Brailey Dizney, who has shown her support for him multiple times this season, supported the Kentucky guard on Instagram with a story captioned:

Lexington —In Kentucky’s 94-91 overtime loss to Florida, Reed Sheppard played the entire game despite missing two starters. Not even a second in regulation. Not for one second in overtime.He’s that important for the Wildcats.

Maybe it was fatigue from playing 45 minutes, maybe it was his freshman inexperience showing, but Sheppard played a little too casual defensively the entire game when he was matched up with Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr.

He ran under a first-half screen, allowing Clayton to drill a 3-pointer. He was too slow closing out in the second half as he allowed Clayton to knock down his fourth of seven 3s in the game. Then with UK holding an 84-81 lead with 11 seconds left, Sheppard went flying by a pump fake by Clayton and gave up the game-tying 3.

“There were some breakdowns, like, ‘Why did you do that?’ breakdowns,” UK coach John Calipari said. “I’m owning it to, they were exhausted.”

In overtime, after Clayton gave up the ball and retreated to the corner, Sheppard let up just long enough that Clayton got the ball back and nailed an uncontested 3-pointer as he struggled to recover. The Gators never trailed again after that shot.

Clayton’s only field goals were 3-pointers, and he finished with a team-high 23 points.

“They’re a little young,” boasted Clayton, who added that the Cats were prone to going for shot fakes.

Sheppard largely had been able to hide his youth from mere mortals from plays like one sequence with 2:10 left in regulation.

He turned the ball over with a bad pass then made up for his mistake with his hustle. Clayton was open and squaring up to launch a corner 3 with UK holding a 79-77 lead, but Sheppard got there in time to block just enough of his shot to keep it from reaching the rim.