Kam Williams poured in eight 3-pointers in Tuesday's win. (Vicky Graff Photo)
It was only a matter of time before Kam Williams had a breakthrough performance at Kentucky.
The Tulane transfer had shown flashes of brilliance in spurts during Kentucky’s first 12 games but provided a big spark for the Wildcats’ offense in a 99-85 win over Bellarmine on Tuesday afternoon.
Known as a sharpshooter from long range, Williams struggled early in the season and had made just nine treys in the team’s first 12 games. He had a breakthrough against the Knights, scoring a career-high 26 points and connecting on a career-high eight treys on 10 attempts in a career outing for the Kentucky guard.
Williams endured the struggles early but kept it simple to get back on track. He simply went back to the basics.
“I was kind of rushing my shot a little bit, thinking that the defender was closer to me than what he was,” Williams said afterward. “(I) had to get back to my fundamentals. Found it through hard work before the game and showed it.”
Kentucky coach Mark Pope praised Williams’ performance and asked him “to do that every night for the rest of the year.”
“That’s Plan A,” he said. “I thought with Otega (Oweh) being a 10-assist guy, I would like that to happen every game for the rest of the year. I thought that was absolutely fantastic …. those two things were really key for us in terms of shooting the ball better and the zone helps – the zone helps because every shot is open.”
Paced by Williams, Kentucky (9-4) sank a season-high 16 3-pointers against the Knights, one shy of the most treys made in a game during the Pope era. The Wildcats made 17 treys in a win over Jackson State last season, but the performance against Bellarmine provided a glimpse of the team’s potential to make shots from long-range going into the new calendar year.
The showing against Bellarmine was a reversal from wins over Indiana and St. John’s when the Wildcats relied on a “smashmouth” attack to overcome the Hoosiers and Red Storm to snap a rare two-game losing streak to open December.
Kentucky’s three transfers — Williams, Denzel Aberdeen and Mohamed Dioubate — combined for 60 points and 12 3-poimters. Dioubate followed Williams with 20 points to complement the team’s inside-outside attack. Aberdeen added four 3-pointers and scored 14 points
Based on Kentucky’s struggles from long range this season, Bellarmine coach Doug Davenport played a zone on the defensive end and took a chance on leaving Kentucky’s shooters open from the perimeter.
It paid off in dividends for Kentucky.
“We were going to dare them to shoot the ball and they did,” he said. “They made them. Tip your cap to them … they made a bunch of shots.”
The Wildcats were without starting point guard Jaland Lowe and Pope and his staff made a “calculated” decision to give Lowe more time to heal ahead of the Southeastern Conference schedule, which begins Jan. 3 at Alabama.
“I would like him to be at full strength,” Pope said. “I think that’s gonna be important for us going forward. I expect him to play every game, but this was just an opportunity for us to maybe let him heal up a little bit more, especially with a break coming up now for a few days.”
* * *
GAMETRACKER: Kentucky at Alabama, Jan. 3, noon. TV/Radio: ESPN, UK Radio Network.
Kentucky-Bellarmine Basketball
Photos by Vicky Graff
3 Responses
Shooting the 3 is a matter of confidence gained through constant practice, discipline in taking good shots versus forced shots, and courage to take the shot when the game is on the line. Williams finally figured it out. Now we need Aberdeen, Noah, Chandler, and Jelavic to do the same…all while playing reserve roles. Oweh and Dioubate are not 3 point shooters and they don't have to be for us to win. The problem comes from both being told they need to add that to their game if they want to play in the NBA. Hopefully, both will play to their strengths and develop their 3 point shooting in the G league. We still have a chance to be a No. 1 seed in the Big Dance by 3 paths. Win the SEC regular season title, win the SEC tourney, or for a sure thing…win both.
I think Oweh had his best game of the season..on a season low 10 points. 10 points 9assist 9 rebounds. Barely missing a triple double. He could do this every game. Teams are going to collapse on him and I've been saying he needs to work on his passing. Passing the ball scoring on and ones, and playing great defense and rebounding will get him drafted. Not scoring 18-20 points and 10 of the points were at the foul line. NBA teams want scorers sure but they need guys who can get there shooters the ball. That's where Oweh comes in if the defense doesn't double him he can take his man one on one and usually has the advantage because of his strength. If he could average about 3-4 assist per game that is what will take his game to the next level not scoring 18 points with 2 rebounds and 1 assist. If he can even average about 13 ppg 5-6 rpg and 3-4apg with 2 steals per game that is what will get him to the next level. Pope needs to chirp in his ear more get everyone involved. If he does we instantly move up to w championship caliber team. We will not be a championship caliber team with him shooting 15-20 shots per game.
Come January 3, we will find out what is real and what isn't. Bama will put up 45 threes and make at least 15 of them. Can we run them off the arc without letting them drive all the way to the basket? There will be a ton of long rebounds, will our guards become rebounders? Will JQ, Dioubate, Moreno, Garrison, and Jelavic dominate the offensive glass? Will we finally put up 35 shots from the arc like Pope has called for? Will Williams have another monster game or was Bellarmine just a flash in the pan? Will Chandler, Noah, Aberdeen, Oweh, and Johnson ALL make multiple 3s? Will we control the paint? We will need to answer ALL of the above with a YES if we expect to beat Bama. This is the MOST important game of our season. Wildcats make BBN PROUD!!! Go CATS!!!
Comments are closed.