Reed Sheppard has been a revelation for the Kentucky basketball program in his first, and perhaps only, season in Lexington.

The freshman guard from London, Kentucky has been one of the most dynamic and productive players for a Wildcats team piecing together one of the most impressive offensive seasons in the program’s history. It has earned him a spot in the first round of virtually every 2024 NBA mock draft, as well as the Wayman Tisdale Award, presented annually to the best freshman in the sport by the USBWA.

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As Kentucky's NCAA Tournament begins on Thursday against 14 seed Oakland in Pittsburgh, Sheppard will have as integral a role as anyone in helping determine whether the 3 seed Wildcats make it to the Final Four for the first time since 2015 — and, once there, whether they can win the program’s ninth NCAA championship.

As stellar as Sheppard has been this season, the idea that someone with his last name, wearing a No. 15 jersey and starring for a Kentucky basketball team with national title aspirations, isn’t anything particularly new or unprecedented.

Here’s everything you need to know about Sheppard’s family, his background and his 2023-24 season with Kentucky:

Is Reed Sheppard related to Jeff Sheppard?

If Sheppard’s name sounds familiar to many Kentucky fans, it’s because it should.

Reed Sheppard is the son of Jeff Sheppard, who played at Kentucky from 1993-98 and was part of two national championship-winning Wildcats teams. As a senior in 1997-98, Sheppard averaged a team-high 13.7 points per game and led Kentucky to its seventh all-time NCAA title. He was named that year’s Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four after scoring 27 points in a national semifinal victory against Stanford and 16 points in the national title game against Utah.

That team, which trailed by at least 10 points in the second half of its final three NCAA Tournament games, is still known to this day as “the Comeback Cats.”

An undrafted free agent, Sheppard spent one season in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks, with whom he averaged 2.2 points and 1.2 rebounds in 10.3 minutes per game. He went on to play professionally for parts of three seasons in Italy before deciding to retire, in part, because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, with Sheppard citing a desire to be closer to his family.

“I just felt that it wasn't the right thing to do to continue playing,” Jeff Sheppard said in a 2012 interview with Deadspin. “It was better to be together as a family and then move on with the next season of my life.”

About three years after his father’s retirement, Reed was born. But he and his father aren’t the only basketball stars in the family.

Reed Sheppard's mom: Stacey Reed Sheppard

Stacey Reed Sheppard, Reed’s mother, played at Kentucky from 1991-95, where she pieced together one of the most statistically productive careers in program history. Ahead of the 2023-24 season, she ranked ninth in career starts, seventh in career 3-pointers made, sixth in career assists, second in career steals and first in career steals per game at Kentucky.

"He’s not better than his mom, that’s for sure," Jeff Sheppard told The Courier-Journal in February 2021 during Reed’s recruitment. "She’s definitely the best in the family. I will say this: I think Reed is ahead of me. Now, Reed is a different type player than I was. A lot of people are trying to draw analogies to us, but he plays more like Stacy in that he’s very aggressive with his hands.

“He loves to kind of gamble and try to steal the ball. He can pass the ball better than I could pass the ball. He definitely can dribble better. I like to say I was just a little bit meaner, but I don’t know that I was as a sophomore in high school. I can’t remember exactly if I was able to make the play that he was. I kind of remember things and the intensity level at the end of my college career and the end of my pro career because that’s kind of my last taste of basketball. I know he’s played more games than me. He’s been in bigger moments at this age. He has a better overall skillset than me. I think he’s ahead, but the race isn’t over."

Being the son of two iconic figures at the flagship university in a basketball-mad state brought a different level of attention to Reed Sheppard growing up, particularly once he started to pursue a basketball career of his own.

“He’s been Reed Sheppard for 16 years now,” Jeff Sheppard said to The Courier-Journal in February 2021. “He just didn’t start to be Reed Sheppard. He’s kind of lived the life of people coming up to me and Stacey and taking pictures with us and asking for our autographs. He’s kind of looking at us like, ‘Why are you doing that? That’s my dad.’ So, he’s kind of lived the life of Kentucky basketball and kind of seeing how that is.”

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Reed Sheppard stats at Kentu ky

During his freshman season, Sheppard is averaging 12.8 points, 4.5 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game for the Wildcats. His assist and steal averages are both team highs.

Sheppard has also made a ridiculous 52.5% of his 141 3-point attempts this season.

Reed Sheppard recruit ranking

Sheppard’s success at the college level hasn’t been entirely unexpected.

Coming out of high school, he was rated as a four-star prospect by 247Sports’ Composite Rankings, which had him as the No. 43 player in the 2023 recruiting class, the No. 9 combo guard nationally and the No. 1 player in Kentucky. Despite his lofty standing, he was only the fifth-highest-rated player in Kentucky’s top-ranked 2023 recruiting haul, which included commitments from three of the class’s top six prospects.

He chose the Wildcats over a number of other major-conference suitors, including Louisville, Indiana, Ohio State and Virginia. He also held scholarship offers from Iona and High Point, which were coached at the time by both of his father’s coaches at Kentucky — Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith.

“I’m a little boy from Kentucky,” Sheppard said after committing to the Wildcats in November 2021. “It’s a dream of a lot of little boys that live in Kentucky to play basketball at the University of Kentucky.”

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Reed Sheppard high school

Sheppard was a McDonald’s All-American out of North Laurel High School in London.

Over the course of his accomplished career there, he scored 3,727 points. He helped lead his team to the state Sweet 16 as a junior and won Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year honors in 2022. As a senior in 2023, he was named Mr. Kentucky Basketball.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Is Kentucky's Reed Sheppard related to Wildcats star Jeff Sheppard?