Former Kentucky state tourney MVP C.J. Fredrick hit 83 3-pointers during the last two seasons at Iowa. (Iowa Athletics Photo)
Another day, another guard went into the transfer portal who was immediately linked to the University of Kentucky. But what makes Iowa shooting guard C.J. Fredrick so intriguing is that he was a Kentucky high school star at Covington Catholic.
The 6-3 Fredrick redshirted his first year at Iowa but played in 52 games the last two years and started every game. He led the Big Ten Conference in 3-point shooting as a freshman, connecting on 47 of 102 attempts (46.1 percent).
Last season he was even better as he made 36 of 76 3’s (47.4 percent). He averaged 7.5 points, 1.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 24.7 minutes per game last season despite dealing with a foot injury most of the season. He hit at least one 3-pointer in 18 games last season, including at least three 3’s in six games. Twice he hit five 3-pointers.
But will Kentucky offer him? Remember earlier Kentuckian Justin Powell decided to transfer from Auburn after one season. It was clear he had major interest in UK but no scholarship offer came and he signed with Tennessee.
Fredrick had offers from Iowa, Ball State, Indiana, Miami (Ohio), Xavier, and Penn State. There was no offer from UK. Kentucky didn’t offer Powell out of high school, either.
Fredrick was a three-star prospect and ranked among the nation’s 250 players in his recruiting class. He led Covington Catholic to the 2018 state championship and earned MVP honors.
Kentucky has an obvious need for a 3-point shooter. Kentucky was 93rd nationally in scoring offense last season, 177th in 3-point field goal percentage, 206th in made 3-pointers, and 277th in field goal percentage. That led to a 9-16 season.
Already Calipari has added Davidson grad transfer Kellan Grady — a 2,000-point scorer in college already — to his roster.
Kentucky has also been linked to a lot of other players in the transfer portal. The biggest names are Marcus Carr of Minnesota, Adam Miller of Illinois, Bryce Hamilton of UNLV, Rocket Watts of Michigan State, Mac McClung of Texas Tech, and De’Vion Harmon of Oklahoma.
Now you can add Fredrick to the long list of guards being linked to UK.
