Antonio Reeves explodes for career-high 37 in win over Arkansas: “He saved us”

“That boy saved us.”

Oscar Tshiebwe couldn’t have said it any better.

With Kentucky’s back against the wall in the final regular season game, it was Antonio Reeves who stepped up and saved a potentially sinking ship. No Cason Wallace, no Sahvir Wheeler, an injured CJ Fredrick — it didn’t matter as long as Reeves was in the game. The Wildcats’ defacto point guard was about as excellent as anyone could have asked for Saturday afternoon in Fayetteville.

Reeves was magnificent in Kentucky’s improbable 88-79 win over Arkansas, exploding for a career-high 37 points. He shot 12-17 overall from the field, including a 2-4 mark from behind the arc and a perfect 11-11 from the free throw line while playing all 40 minutes. 37 points surpassed his previous career-high of 34, which he set a season ago while playing for Illinois State. But that was against Valparaiso; his new career-high came against an SEC program ranked Top 20 in the NET.

“I’m so happy for what I see from (Reeves). He did so much for us tonight. That boy saved us, he saved us. The boat was sinking today, that boy just came in and saved us from sinking,” Tshiebwe told Goose Givens of the UK Sports Network after the win.

Reeves became just the eighth player in program history to score at least 37 points in a true road game and the first to do so under head coach John Calipari.

With Kentucky leading 40-36 coming out of halftime, Reeves scored 11 straight for Kentucky over a four-minute span. He was already up to 15 points after the opening 20 minutes but went on another heater out of the break. With Calipari missing both of his true point guards to injury, he turned to Reeves as the hopeful answer.

Whenever Arkansas tried to chip away at Kentucky’s lead, it was Reeves who came up in the clutch. His and-one with 7:23 left in the second half put the ‘Cats in front by 10. A made jumper less than two minutes later kept the lead at nine. His pull-up jumper with exactly four minutes left made it a 10-point game once again. A pair of freebies with 3:13 remaining gave Kentucky a double-digit lead that it never looked back on.

Reeves played the final 5:23 of action with four fouls, too.

“What Antonio did I went back and hugged him, I didn’t know he had 37,” Calipari said postgame. “I know he had a bunch, I didn’t know he had 37. I hugged him and said ‘wow’.”

It was as timely a performance as Calipari could have asked for from his fill-in point guard. Reeves only finished with two assists, but he turned the ball over just once. With Wheeler expected to miss even more time and Wallace’s status still up in the air for next week’s SEC Tournament, Kentucky might need a couple of repeat performances from Reeves heading into the postseason.

But if Saturday in Fayetteville was any indication, he’ll be ready for the moment.

“We may have a new point guard in Antonio,” Calipari said.

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