Reeves' eight 3s helps Cats hold off Africa at GLOBL Jam
Kentucky's Antonio Reeves and Reed Sheppard exchanged a high-five during the Wildcats' 104-92 win over Africa on Saturday to remain unbeaten at GLOBL Jam in Toronto, Canada. (Chet White/UK Athletics)
Jeff Drummond • CatsIllustrated
Managing Editor Edit
@JDrumUK
One of Antonio Reeves' eight 3-pointers capped a 9-0 run by Kentucky that helped the Wildcats fend off a late rally by the Africa BAL Select squad on Saturday afternoon at GLOBL Jam in Toronto.
Kentucky, which swept round-robin play and will play Sunday in the gold medal game against the winner of today's Canada/Germany matchup, led by as many as 20 points in the second half against Africa.
But Africa made a late charge to cut the lead to six with 5:21 remaining and forced UK head coach John Calipari to use a timeout that looked unnecessary earlier in the day. The Cats responded to their coach's direction, though, and scored on four straight trips to secure the win.
Four different players scored during the decisive run, including a putback by freshman wing Justin Edwards, a pair of free throws by freshman guard Reed Sheppard, a driving floater by freshman guard DJ Wagner, and the dagger 3-pointer by Reeves.
"We found a way," said Calipari, whose team again played without injured 7-footers Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso, and also battled foul trouble for most of the game.
"The one thing that I kept talking to them about was the moment. These shots are the moment. These are the ones that put you over. DJ had 'em. Antonio had 'em... Reed did it, played great. I can go right down the line. They made plays to keep this at double digits. They were big plays, big shots."
Reeves, a senior guard, finished with a game-high 27 points on 8-of-11 shooting from beyond the 3-point arc. Through three games in Toronto, he is averaging 24.6 points and shooting 58% (14 of 24) from long range.
Four other players finished in double figures for the Cats: Wagner (18), Sheppard (18), Edwards (15), and Tre Mitchell (12). Kentucky shot 50% from the field and knocked down 14 of its 35 attempts from the arc.
Africa shot just 39% but had its best perimeter shooting game of the event with seven 3-pointers and knocked down 23 of 28 free throws. Jean Jacques Boissy and Amr Zahran led the BAL Select squad with 18 points apiece. Louisville's Emmanuel Okorafor added 16.
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In this "Rapid Recap" feature, we touch on some quick-hitters from the UK victory...
KEY MOMENT:
When Africa cut a 20-point lead down to six with under five minutes to play, Kentucky responded with a 9-0 run to put the game away. Justin Edwards rebounded his own miss to start the run, Reed Sheppard sank a pair of free throws after being fouled on a drive to the rim, DJ Wagner slashed into the lane for a picture-perfect floater, and Antonio Reeves buried a 3-pointer from the right wing to erase any further thoughts of a comeback win by Africa.
GAME BALL:
Antonio Reeves, Kentucky -- It would be hard for Reeves to play any better than he has in the first three games at GLOBL Jam. He's been a consistent scoring threat from all over the floor and deadly from long range. The senior guard was 8-of-11 from deep today and is 14-for-24 in the tournament.
BY THE NUMBERS:
14 of 35 - Shooting from long range by the Cats, 40%
+24 - Tre Mitchell's team-leading +/- figure.
26 - Assists for Kentucky, including eight by Reed Sheppard and seven by Tre Mitchell.
46-44 - Rebounding edge for UK against the bigger African squad. Five different Cats had five or more boards, including eight by Tre Mitchell.
57 - Bench points for the Cats, led by Reeves' 27. He had started the previous two games.
QUOTABLE:
"It was a good win. We knew it was going to be a hard game. We were at Drake's yesterday swimming and having fun, and we already knew we were in the gold medal game, so this was a hard game, but they performed. I was proud of them." -- UK head coach John Calipari
UP NEXT:
Kentucky will face the winner of today's Canada/Germany round-robin game in the gold medal game on Sunday. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network.
