It’s been over five months since Antonio Reeves took home MVP honors from Kentucky’s trip to the Bahamas. During the exhibition tour, the Illinois State transfer averaged 17.0 points in 19.3 minutes over four games, shooting the ball with confidence and looking every bit the scorer Kentucky needed for the 2022-23 campaign. When the season actually started, Reeves played well at times but had a tendency to disappear when the Cats needed him the most, averaging only 7.3 points in Kentucky’s losses to Michigan State, Gonzaga, UCLA, and Missouri.
The most obvious factor behind Kentucky’s four-game winning streak is switching the lineup to feature two shooters alongside a primary ballhandler.