DeWayne Reed was shooting 3’s from the SEC logo more than 25 feet from the basket and tossing alley-oops to Frankie Sullivan around 2 p.m. Monday at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

Practice wasn’t for another hour, but Reed wasn’t going to take any chances.

“I’m ready to put this past me,” Reed said. “I’m ready to play tonight. You saw me out here early. I’m ready to practice now.”

Reed’s early arrival to Monday’s practice wasn’t unusual. Just this past Thursday, Reed was shooting free throws well before the rest of his teammates trickled on to the floor.

What was unusual was Reed’s late arrival to Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt.

Reed’s “slipup,” as he called it, resulted in him playing just three uninspiring minutes in the Tigers’ 82-75 loss.

“It was hard watching them, but when I was in the game I knew I could make a difference helping us get the win,” Reed said. “Unfortunately, Coach did his job, and I had to cheer.”

Monday, both he and coach Jeff Lebo were ready to write it off as a one-time incident.

“It’ll be resolved,” Lebo promised earlier in the day before he met with Reed before Monday’s practice — the first time since Saturday. “It’ll be over.”

The two talked for about 10 minutes before Reed met with reporters.

“He was like he had to do his job,” Reed said. “Just to help the team, so the other players don’t be late.

“He was just stressing his point.”

Reed would not go into specifics about why he was late to Saturday’s game and did not say how late he was. Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said
Saturday he saw Reed walk onto the court well after Auburn’s players had already stretched.

Lebo stood by his decision Monday to bench the Tigers’ leading scorer and quickest defender in a game Auburn desperately needed to win.

“We’ve got rules and that’s just — he violated it and then he didn’t handle it particularly well after he violated it,” Lebo said. “That’s just what you’ve got to do. It’s over and behind us and we’ll move forward. I think he understands what he did and how he responded and chalk it up to a learning
experience and hopefully move forward from it.

“There’s no doubt it hurt our basketball team. Now whether we win with him, I don’t know. But there’s no doubt it hurt our team.”

Lebo promised no further disciplinary action Saturday and it appears nothing will stop him from reinserting Reed into the starting lineup Wednesday at Ole Miss.

“I think he’ll be fine,” Lebo said. “As a junior, I think we’ll be able to put this behind us and move forward.”

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