Antonio Reeves Selected for Wooden Award Ballot
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Los Angeles Athletic Club has selected Kentucky men’s basketball guard Antonio Reeves for 2024 John R. Wooden Award national ballot, it was announced Saturday on ESPN College GameDay.
The national ballot is comprised of 15 student-athletes who are candidates for the Wooden Award All-American Team and Wooden Award Trophy as the most outstanding college basketball player in the United States. Reeves is one of four players from the Southeastern Conference to appear on the ballot, the most of any conference in the country.
All balloted players have been certified by their university to meet or exceed the qualifications for the Wooden Award as set forth by John Wooden when the award was established. The qualifications include: candidates must exhibit strength of character, both on and off the court; candidates must be full-time students in an accredited NCAA college or university; candidates must be making progress toward graduation and have a cumulative 2.00 grade point average since enrolling in their school; candidates must contribute to team effort; candidates must excel in both offense and defense; and candidates should be considered on their performance over the course of the entire season.
Voting will take place March 18-25. Voters consider a player’s entire season of play and the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament. The finalists for the 2024 Wooden Award will be announced on April 2.
Kentucky has had two players win the Wooden Award in its history in Anthony Davis (2012) and Oscar Tshiebwe (2022).
Reeves enters Saturday’s action leading the Wildcats with 20.0 points per game (in the John Calipari era, only Jamal Murray at 20.0 points per game has averaged as much as Reeves), and having scored at least 20 in UK’s last six contests. He is shooting career-best marks from the field (.507), from 3 (.435) and from the foul line (.879), making him the only Power 5 player averaging at least 1.5 made 3-pointers and tallying at least .490 percent from the field, .435 from 3-point range and .865 from the charity stripe.
The Chicago native has scored in double figures in all but one game this season, and scored at least 20 points in 18 contests. Against Georgia, he eclipsed 2,000 career points combining his time at Illinois State and at Kentucky. As a Wildcat, he became the 62nd player in program history to amass 1,000 career points with 25 at LSU. He is one of three active players and 10 all-time to tally 1,000 career points at two different programs.
In two seasons with UK, Reeves has scored 1,088 points. The most in a two-year span as a Wildcat is 1,213 by Bill Spivey. He scored 30 points in a win at Louisville, becoming just the fourth Kentucky player to score 30 or more against the Cardinals, while also joining Tshiebwe (4), Malik Monk (4) and Jamal Murray (3) as the only UK players in the Calipari era to have multiple games with 30 or more points.
Reeves has quickly ascended the list of Kentucky’s 3-point field-goal leaders, currently ranking 13th in program history with 154 triples, a number he has achieved in just 64 games in the blue and white.
In addition to his place on the Wooden Award ballot, Reeves is also a finalist for the Jerry West Award, on the USBWA Oscar Robertson/All-America watch list and on the Naismith Trophy watch list.
Kentucky concludes its regular season this afternoon in Knoxville, Tennessee against No. 4 Tennessee. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. on CBS.
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s basketball team, follow @KentuckyMBB on X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and on the web at UKathletics.com.
