The Kentucky Wildcats came out of the gates hot last season, kicking off the Mark Pope era with a Sweet 16 appearance.
As year two approaches, there is a brand-new roster in Lexington with quite a few transfer players and even some homegrown commits.
One name that has impressed this summer is Tulane transfer Kam Williams.
Williams is known as a solid 3-and-D guy after shooting an impressive 48.5 percent from the field and 41.2 percent from the three point line last season.
Williams fits the Pope offense perfectly, but Pope also wanted to make sure he brought in some guys that can help defensively as well, and that is exactly what he got with the former Green Wave wing.
“Kam Williams came in here as an elite, elite-level shooter. By the end of the summer, we’re like, is he gonna be top defender, our second or third-best defender?” Pope said on the Eye on College Basketball Podcast. “He led us in DIM, which is a defensive impact metric for us. He was tied for first in blocked shots. He was fourth in rebounding. He’s got a chance. We’re really excited about him.”
It is easy to just look at points and rebounds on the stat sheet, but Williams also averaged 1.4 steals and 1.1 blocks per game last season.
All in all, Pope got exactly what he needed with Williams and found a two-for-one guy with shooting and defensive capabilities.
It will be fun to see him in action this upcoming season!