'Tone is the Best Right Now.' Confidence Continues Helping Antonio Reeves Realize His Basketball Dreams

LEXINGTON, Ky. — March is here, and Antonio Reeves still can't believe that he's playing basketball for the University of Kentucky.

After three seasons at Illinois State, the Chicago native made the leap into the transfer portal, and just so happened to land in the arms of the Wildcats in Lexington. All season long, he's labeled it a "dream come true" or a "blessing," as he gets the chance to play for one of the most storied programs in the history of the game he so dearly loves.

As it turns out, he wasn't just good enough to play for the Redbirds in the Missouri Valley Conference. The sharpshooter-turned-all-around bucket-getter can score at will and now may be the key piece to his team making a run in the NCAA Tournament.

Averaging 14.2 points-per-game on 43-percent shooting, Reeves was named the SEC Co-Sixth Man of the Year on Monday, another reminder that he's hanging with the best of the best.

"Man, it's a blessing, an honor to even have that under my belt," he told reporters on Wednesday. "I never thought this would even happen in the first place, because coming from a mid-major school to high-major, I didn't know how it was going to be. It actually just turned out great for me."

While he's come off the bench for most of the season, injuries forced coach John Calipari to move Reeves into the starting lineup over the weekend against Arkansas. The result was only a career-high 37-point performance that propelled the Wildcats to an 88-79 win over the Razorbacks in Fayetteville.

He discussed what worked well in the win, as he shot 12-17 from the floor and made all 11 of his free-throw attempts.

"It was a couple things. Pick-and-roll, I had a couple dribble pull-ups that worked for me as well. I didn't know I could really shoot it like that from dribble pull-ups. That confidence that I had in that game, you know, just build off that."

As impressive as it was, it still earned some playful criticism from his teammate Oscar Tshiewbe:

"I told Tone, I said 'you suck.' He said 'what do you mean?' I said 'man, you can't get 40 (points)?' He was like 'come on, man!'"

"That boy is good. It's very tough to stop him right now."

Finding confidence hasn't always been easy for Reeves or anyone on Kentucky this season. As the team wavered, so did hopes of making the NCAA Tournament. There have been multiple low-points in the season that have taken a toll on UK finding consistent symmetry and consistency.

That was the case for the shooting guard as well, as he had to learn to love coming off the bench. His season started off tremendous, as four of the first seven games saw him rattle off 15 or more points.

Then came a midseason-lull, as his scoring numbers dropped. Reeves had a seven-game stretch in which he didn't eclipse 11 points, with four of those outings witnessing eight points or less. He even went three games in a row without hitting a 3-pointer.

Kentucky eventually found its way, even when it didn't look like it was going to. Reeves followed suit and got back on track in a big way, finishing the regular season with 71 made treys and eight games with 20 or more points, headlined by his stunning showcase against Arkansas over the weekend.

Along with finding his shot came the jolt in confidence:

"I think later on in the season, it was just more so playing my game, like, off-the-dribble pull-ups and, you know, trying to get to the rim and things like that," Reeves said. "At the beginning of the season, you know, I was still trying to find my role in the team. I wasn't as confident as I am now."

Reeves has also remained sturdy, playing in all 31 games played so far this season. He's one of the only Wildcats to do so, avoiding injuries that have plagued the surrounding guards in the UK backcourt.

As a result, he's also had to play an enhanced amount of minutes. In Kentucky's last seven games, he's played over 30 minutes five times, even playing all 40 in the win over the Hogs.

"Tone is the best right now," Tshiebwe said. "We just need him to go score 40 every game if he can."

In order to try and not catch the injury bug, Reeves has learned to value his body and take the steps necessary to stay as healthy as possible with crunch time on the horizon.

"Be in a training room every day, because it actually takes a toll on your body, you know, just playing that amount of minutes. It's very important that after practice, get in the training room for at least two hours just to work on my body," he said. "Just do some yoga or be in a pool or something, those type of things."

Kentucky will attempt to win the SEC Tournament, but it'll punch a ticket to the Big Dance next week, regardless of how it performs in Nashville. Reeves is a major reason for that, and he now gets to live out another one of his dreams that he thought was inconceivable not too long ago.

"It's a dream come true. I always wanted to play in that tournament. I would've never thought i'd play in the tournament two or three years ago ... i'm truly beyond honored and blessed to have the opportunity."

Kentucky will play the fourth and final quarterfinal of the night on Friday in Nashville, taking on the winner of Vanderbilt and Georgia/LSU, which will take place on Thursday. Reeves will be watching his possible opponents:

"I want to actually watch those games and see who we're gonna play. Whatever happens, happens."

More on the win over the Razorbacks HERE.

Everything John Calipari said after the win HERE.

SEC awards for four Wildcats. More HERE.

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