If there’s one concern fans might have about this Kentucky team, it’s shooting — and that’s probably only because last year’s team was so good at it. Mark Pope’s first Kentucky squad set the single-season record for three-pointers made (341), hitting ten or more threes in 19 games, also a record. That’s a pretty high bar, but Kam Williams is confident this group will also pour it in from deep.
“I would say no one really has to worry about [shooting], because we work hard every day, even when the cameras aren’t around,” Williams said on Tuesday. “Everyone definitely puts in a lot of work to shoot the ball, dribble, play defense, stuff like that. So on paper, it looks like that, but don’t worry about the paper.”
Williams has a strong case to be this team’s best shooter. During his freshman season at Tulane, the 6’8″, 190 lbs. wing averaged 9.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game, shooting 48.5% from the floor and 41.2% from three-point range. That latter number came on 1.9 makes per 4.6 attempts per game. After seeing Koby Brea thrive in Mark Pope’s system, Williams jumped at the chance to fill his shoes, becoming Kentucky’s first transfer portal commitment on March 28.
“I like Koby Brea,” Williams said. “He could shoot the ball, and I really like how he fit the playing style over here. So I really watched him a lot before I ended up coming over.”
With hopes of having a Brea-like season, Williams is stepping up his game. He told reporters that every day, he tries to top his number of threes made in shooting drills. He’s excited to show off his skills to fans in the three-point shooting contest at Big Blue Madness; if it were held today, he said the title would be his.
“I think I’m gonna win every single shooting contest we have,” Williams claimed. “It’ll be me, and Trent [Noah] will be my best competition.”
Williams isn’t the first newcomer to mention Trent Noah‘s shooting skills. Last week, Jaland Lowe said Noah might be the best shooter he’s ever seen. Williams may think he’s better, but backed up that praise and extended it to the entire team, even the bigs.
“Everyone says that Trent can shoot, but whenever I’ve seen it in person, he really can shoot. Jasper [Johnson], Jaland [Lowe], everyone, everyone on the team, could really shoot for real, but it’s just kind of disguised, because, like, people might look at it like, ‘Oh, he’s a big, he’s a forward, like, he can’t shoot.’ Everyone can really shoot. Mo [Dioubate] can even shoot, for real, but the numbers may say something different, but he can shoot the ball.”
Williams said that he’s adjusting to Pope’s system pretty well so far; however, his new coach has one critique for him so far.
“I’ve had a couple of instances in practice where I didn’t shoot it because I went to kind of like iso the ball. He got on me — I’m not going to say what it was — but he told me to be confident and shoot the ball. That’s what he brought me here for.”
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