Malachi Moreno Has ‘surprising’ Physicality

Malachi Moreno probably has been the most surprising on Kentucky coach Mark Pope’s team this season.

He was Kentucky Mr. Basketball after leading Great Crossing to the state title, the Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year and a McDonald’s All-American. Yet expectations were not overly high from most about the 7-footer going into the season.

However, he had 18 points on 8-for-14 shooting in Friday’s win over Valparaiso and also had 10 rebounds, three assists and one blocked shot.

“I was really proud of him today.  As a freshman, just in his second game.  There’s so much going on, like there’s so much of life also.  Just all the things.  Like all of our guys, he’s dealing with a thousand different distractions. But he was able to come on the floor tonight and really focus,” Pope said after the game.

“He’s got a physicality that might be surprising. I think when you look at him, you expect he’s going to feel a certain way when you actually make contact with him.  But I think he’s way stronger and I think he’s doing an unbelievable job rebounding out of his area and he’s determined. He’s using one of our best percentage hit and go get and wedge guys and it’s his consistent effort I think that’s really really functional for him on the glass.  He’s been our best rebounder on both sides of the ball pretty consistently from the get go.  He’s taking that challenge really seriously and it’s fun to watch him grow.”

Pope thinks he is just going to keep getting better, too.

“He’s young, he’s going to have ups and downs.  His ceiling is really really high and he had a huge impact,” Pope said Friday.  “I will tell you what I was most proud of, when he did get the ball on the post, he had a tendency to attack baseline. He was really disciplined tonight about attacking middle. He was really patient with the bounce, like he was squeezing extra dribbles, really just kind of working to get to his spot and got a couple of shots blocked and then  in the second half, went to the rip through, the step through, which is just like exactly how you respond when people who are overplaying your left shoulder.

“I thought the way he calculated the game was really good.  So I’m proud of him.  Probably the most important thing, he’s a three assist, zero turnover guy for a freshman big and had a ton of usage tonight and I don’t think you see that very often.”

Moreno said Pope kept telling him it was just a matter of time before he got more comfortable and he’s reached that point now.

“It’s been a gradual process. I’ve kind of just been trying to take it one day at a time, trying to get better every single day, and try to make an impact in any way that I can,” he said.

He said making free throws helped him gain confidence more than anything.

“All my teammates were looking for me in the first half, so I think just having that trust for them gave me confidence,” Moreno said.

He also said time in the weight room has helped him adjust to the physicality of college basketball.

“I’ve been in the weight room a lot, trying to figure out my body, what works best, and just trying to get my body ready for what’s to come,” Moreno said.