Kentucky Basketball is now 2-0 after Friday night’s win over the James Madison Dukes.
The best part of the game? None other than the return of sophomore guard Kam Williams, who’d been sidelined for much of the past year after undergoing multiple foot surgeries dating back to January. While he did briefly return for the postseason, it lasted just a handful of games before the season ended. He later had a second procedure that sidelined him for all of the summer practice season and into the start of regular-season
play.
It was clear that Williams is still shaking off some rust in his season debut, as he went 0/3 from the field in just nine minutes of action. However, he did hit both of his free-throw attempts during Kentucky’s run in the second half to go from trailing by two to leading by double digits. He also chipped in one rebound and one assist
The real story is that Williams got any run at all in Kentucky’s pre-Champions Classic matchup with Kansas. Not only is he now likely to play in that game, but now that Williams has some rust knocked off, he may be able to play a key role in a game the Cats will be underdogs in, rather than just getting 3-5 minutes of spot duty.
After the game, Mark Pope said he expects to get more out of Williams vs. Kansas next week.
“I thought he was terrific tonight,” said Pope. “He really helped us tonight. I think he’ll help us more against Kansas, and he’s going to continue to put his fingerprints on this team.”
Kentucky will certainly need it in order to take down the 17th-ranked Jayhawks.
