Following the conclusion of the 2017-18 basketball season, then-Wichita State guard Austin Reaves picked up his phone and called his brother, Spencer.
Austin told him he wanted to transfer from Wichita State after two seasons with the Shockers. Spencer couldn’t believe it.
“Shut up,” Spencer said.
Reaves had been thinking about the decision for some time, but he hadn’t told his parents, friends or teammates that it was something he was considering. The Arkansas native averaged 6.1 points per game in 66 games with the Shockers, including 11 starts during his sophomore season.
“I was a little shocked,” Spencer said, “just because a lot of guys come in as freshmen and sophomores and don’t get the minutes and the playing time and the opportunity that he did. But being his brother and being a guy that I feel like he can talk to, you know I had to listen and see what his thoughts were.”
Spencer was a collegiate basketball player at the time, too. As Austin’s older brother, Spencer had always been a role model in his life. Spencer also chose to transfer from his first school before he ended up at Central Missouri.
“He was asking me about the process and what I thought about him transferring and trying to go somewhere else,” Spencer said. “So at the end of the day, I was just trying to be a person to be there for him and tell him, ‘This is what you’ve got to look for, these are the steps you have to take,’ because I’ve experienced it before.”
‘You’re always gonna have people criticizing what you do’
On Saturday, Reaves will return to Wichita State with the Sooners in a game that he admits he’s been thinking about for a while now. The game will take place at 5 p.m. CT on ESPN 2.
The news that Reaves would be transferring left Shocker fans wondering why the talented scorer would want to leave. Some speculated that a column by Wichita State’s student newspaper, The Sunflower, following Wichita State’s conference tournament loss that season could be to blame. The column was titled “Bench Austin Reaves.”
The backlash toward the story was enough to lead The Sunflower to publish another story titled “Austin Reaves’ departure prompts unnecessary comments calling for more oversight.”
“You’re always gonna have people criticizing what you do,” Reaves said. “They’re just thinking about themselves, so at the end of the day, you’ve got to do what’s best for you. I think that’s a big thing in all of sports, is you’ve got to block the outside noise out and just listen to people who really have common interests and want what’s best for you.”
Reaves said publicly afterward that the column had nothing to do with his decision to transfer and that he tried to make a decision that was best for him. The shooting guard spoke with Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall about his decision and felt the two came to an understanding.
“It was really good terms, me and Coach came to an agreement, and that’s just where it was,” Reaves said. “We left it on good terms.”
Reaves said he’s unsure what the reaction will be when he takes the court against the Shockers on Saturday night. The shooting guard has been receiving positive messages from people associated with Wichita State, which makes him think the reaction could be mixed.
Spencer is unsure what the atmosphere will be like.
“I don’t know what it’ll be,” Spencer said. “They did love him there, some people do feel betrayed by what happened but ... I don’t know. I think it’ll be a mix of both because they did really enjoy the effort he put out playing for them, and I think people were just confused why he left.”
‘You could just tell that he’s not gonna back down from anybody’
Spencer said his brother’s competitive attitude has been around since they were kids growing up together. Their parents, Nicole Wilkett and Brian Reaves, both played collegiate basketball for Arkansas State. Nicole was an All-Conference forward, and Brian is tied for third in assists on Arkansas State’s all-time list.
“We were growing up with basketballs in our hands,” Spencer said. “They played some rec leagues when we were younger kids, so we were always in the gym.”
Spencer remembers basketball games against his younger brother inside their house on a miniature basketball goal. Eventually, their games got moved outside because they were so rough. Their parents built Austin and Spencer a basketball court outside their home, which only led to the games becoming more intense.
The two brothers played together for their high school team, Cedar Ridge, a small 2A school in Arkansas. Spencer said he could tell his brother had what it took to make it to the next level as a freshman.
“We’re playing in bigger tournaments against Division I point guards, and he’s 5-foot-10 and 140 pounds and getting dogged 40 feet down the court, and he’s holding his own," Spencer said. "You could just tell that he’s not gonna back down from anybody, and nobody’s just gonna take the ball from him. He’s gonna be able to handle the pressure.”
Austin and Spencer would get so competitive during practices in high school that it would sometimes lead to fights. While the arguments never got physical, a few came pretty close.
Their coach, Isaac Middlebrooks, who now coaches at Highland, said they're two of the most competitive players he's ever been around.
"Most of it was Spencer, not Austin," Middlebrooks said. "They'd get in shoving matches a little bit and get real vocal with each other. But it was all in an effort to make each other better."
The pair helped lead Cedar Ridge to two state championships in their two years playing together.
“It was a cool experience just being able to say you played with your younger brother,” Spencer said, “because not everybody gets that experience, and we were able to actually be really successful and win a lot of games.”
By the time his older brother left for college, Austin had hit a growth spurt and was beginning to solidify himself as the leader of his team. The now 6-foot-5 shooting guard was able to lead Cedar Ridge back to a state title during his senior season. Reaves averaged 32.5 points, 8.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists during his senior season, including a 73-point game over the eventual 5A state champions.
"Just watching that game, in the third quarter I was like, 'Oh he's gonna get 40 again,' then he had 50,” Middlebrooks said. "And it went to triple overtime, and he finished with 73, and my phone started going crazy after that."
Spencer was in college at North Greenville at the time and was only able to get updates through social media.
“I didn’t know anything about it,” Spencer said. “I didn’t even know he was playing that day. I was in college and saw on Twitter that he had 55 at the end of regulation, and I called up my parents and I couldn’t get either one of them to answer. They were just like, 'We’re in a game right now.'”
For Middlebrooks, seeing Reaves put on a show like that had become quite common.
"Almost every game he'd have one of those moments where me and my assistant coach would just look at each other and be like, 'Did he really just do that?'" Middlebrooks said. "The thing that impressed me the most with him was everybody was there to watch, and he never had a bad game. The bigger the game, the bigger he played."
'When I visited, I just felt like I was home'
Austin began to get even more recognition from colleges wanting to recruit him, but the Arkansas native chose Wichita State. After his decision to transfer in 2018, Austin looked at several different schools and visited the campuses of Northern Iowa and Purdue, but the only visit his brother was able to attend was to Norman.
“His biggest pitch for (Oklahoma) was because they’re just gonna let me be myself,” Reaves said, “and Coach Kruger is obviously a Hall of Fame coach, and he felt like I would fit well here.”
At the time, Reaves was making his decision to transfer, and Trae Young was playing his only season with the Sooners. Spencer said that being able to watch how Kruger was able to use Young was a big part of why the school seemed like a good fit.
Oklahoma forward Brady Manek hosted Austin, Spencer and their father Brian during his visit to Norman, and the two clicked.
“The coaching staff’s amazing and loves their players,” Reaves said, “and when I visited, I just felt like I was home.”
Today, Spencer is playing basketball professionally in Spain. The time change makes watching Oklahoma basketball games difficult for him, but Spencer often stays up late to watch his brother compete.
Spencer will be riding a bus on his way back from his own game in Spain during Oklahoma’s matchup with the Shockers. Spencer knows how important this game is to his brother, and while he’s unsure what the reaction will be, he knows Austin will be able to handle it. A big reason for Spencer’s confidence in his brother is how he’s proved his toughness throughout their lives.
"Austin just wants to win — that's what everyone needs to know about him," Spencer said. "He'll do whatever it takes to win, and that's the kind of guy he is. He's passionate about it, he loves being at Oklahoma — he keeps telling me how much he enjoys being there and being able to play for such a good staff."
