Kam Williams threw down a dunk on an offensive rebound against Louisville. (Vicky Graff Photo)
For almost 28 minutes Tuesday night, all Kam Williams did was sit on the bench and watch host Louisville roll to a 20-point lead over Kentucky in the Yum Center.
Once Kentucky coach Mark Pope decided to give the 6-foot-8 Tulane transfer a chance to play, he was ready. No pouting. No forcing play. No hero ball.
Instead, Williams went to work and was a big reason Kentucky rallied to cut the lead to four points late in the game before eventually losing the rivalry matchup 96-88.
Williams did his part. He hit his first 3-point shot of the season less than two minutes after coming into the game. He had a monstrous follow-up dunk after an offensive rebound. He had four rebounds and blocked a fast-break shot in his 12 minutes, 24 seconds of play. His +/- was 11, one of only three UK players with a plus evaluation and the highest mark anyone on either team had.
He got beat once on a backdoor cut, but his size and length clearly elevated the Kentucky defense that had been no match for Louisville before that.
“I thought Kam gave us a little length and a little mobility, and his ability to kind of just have a little bit of gravity on the floor is important for us,” Kentucky coach Mark Pope said. “We’re blessed with a really special roster, a great group of guys, and there’s going to be a learning curve with the pieces, about trying to figure out when and how and where to put them together, but I thought he helped us tonight.”
Williams was 0-for-5 from 3-point range in UK’s first two games, but remember he made 63 threes as a freshman at Tulane and has been praised constantly for his shooting in practice since transferring to Kentucky.
Williams said he stayed patient and didn’t try to rush anything when he got his opportunity to play against Louisville.
“Just grateful and ready when my number was called. I was cheering for my teammates. He (Pope) emphasizes if you wanted to play you have got to defend and rebound,” Williams said on the UK Radio Network postgame show after the Louisville loss.
He said he didn’t have “anybody to block out” when he got his dunk/offensive rebound.
“Thank Jesus it came to me because it could have gone over my head,” he said.
Williams said Pope told the team when he took a timeout with Louisville leading by 2 points to “play one play at a time and relax.” That’s when he inserted Williams into the game.
“We just kept our heads high. We knew we could cut the lead down, and we got it down to four and let it slip away,” Williams said. “We turned the ball over a little too much (14 times). Their coach had a great game plan and they knew exactly where to pinpoint the passing lanes. They knew our actions and guarded it well. We can’t really pout over this game. We just have to get back in the gym and get better.”
Former Kentucky All-American Jack Givens did the UK Radio Network postgame interview with Williams. He’s been a fan of the Tulane transfer since his arrival on campus.
“You know he is going to start making shots. Watching him in practice it is just amazing that he has not made them consistently in the games,” Givens told Tom Leach during the game. “He is one of those guys you just know is going to get that going.
“He got some minutes tonight and it was not necessarily about him making a shot which was good to see but he got some rebounds. He dunked one on the offensive end and got three rebounds. He has to get better on defense. No doubt about that and has to improve, but he played really well.”
Yes, he did, and he definitely played well enough to have a chance to play a lot more going forward.
* * *
Earlier Tuesday, Williams’ uncle/Godfather, Valerian “Scooter Owens,” passed. He was a former player at Louisiana-Lafayette and was in the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity with Kam Williams’ father also.
“Scooter was a great friend who helped many young men achieve their dreams. He was an instructor at my basketball camp. He will be missed,” national basketball recruiting analyst Ron Briscoe posted on social media.
Greg Williams did not tell his son about his uncle’s passing until after the Kentucky-Louisville game.
9 Responses
To be fair, Cam had 5 other games to showcase his skills; why he waited until the Louisville game is the better question. I was elated to see him come out of his shell and hope he will get more PT to continue his climb.
Heard that Lowe has reinjury his shoulder in practice today.
Then Abedeen starts at the point with Johnson as backup, Chandler at the 2 with Oweh as backup, Williams at the 3 with Dioubate as backup, Jelavic at the 4 with Dioubate doubling as backup…it would be good for Quaintance to get some minutes here, and Moreno at the 5 with Garrison as the backup. If the former starters don't like coming off the bench, they can pull their heads out of their butts and play team ball.
The Lowe injury has been confirmed.
I'd rather have Aberdeen anyway. If Lowe is this fragile then he wouldn't last long in SEC play.
I agree that Oweh should be coming off the bench.
I don't think Lowe is fragile. He just has an injury
After getting showed up by a freshman, my guess is his pride got hurt more than his shoulder.
44 of Alabama's 66 shots against Purdue this evening were from 3. They made 16 for 36% which is close to our percentage on 3s. Why don't we take that many 3s? The only answer that makes sense is that we are not confident we can make them. Purdue out rebounded Bama by 24, including 19 offensive boards. Bama only had 10 turnovers, but Purdue only had 6. Purdue won by 7, the turnovers were the difference.
Williams hasn't played good unless your talking about a 3 and a put back. He is who we need to start hitting 3s with Chandler. If Chandler and Williams could both knock down 3s that will put a little less pressure on the other players. I think we are a better team with Lowe not playing. We are out of control already and he makes us even more of out of control. I would bench all the starters except Aberdeen and Chandler. Period. ABERDEEN Chandler Williams Jelavic Moreno would be a damn good starting 5. Really the way Pope dishes out the minutes it really doesn't matter if you start or not. You might get more time coming off the bench then starting. Starting should be a reward for practice. Whatever 5 people practice the hardest and give the most effort and play team ball should start. Because whatever 5 players on this team that are playing team ball will play better than any "superstars" we have on this team. I see 0 superstars and we spent 22 million on these college kids. When JQ is ready we will be a much better team. With his interior rebounding and shot blocking and he makes everyone alter there shots we will be much better. We are missing a punch you in the chest post presence. Moreno is a good rebounder but he's not good at blocking shots. JQ is way more athletic than Moreno. He looks like a monster on the court. Our starters by SEC play should be Aberdeen Chandler Oweh Jelavic JQ. I think that would be the best starting 5 for offense and defense. Chandler and Jelavic are great at offense and Aberdeen is good at both offense and defense. Oweh and JQ are elite defensively.
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