Kentucky basketball: Player grades for 2017-2018 season

Easily Kentucky’s emotional leader, Mr. Mean Mug himself, PJ Washington gets a solid B for his performance this season. PJ brought intensity, ferocious rebounding, and an inside presence to a team that badly needed it. We won’t talk about the free throw shooting.

Washington averaged 10.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. He started 30 of 37 games and played about 27 minutes per contest. When Jarred Vanderbilt entered Kentucky’s rotation in January, he and PJ clicked right away. They played off each other very well.

PJ’s 60.6% shooting from the charity stripe was a big problem this season. There were several games where his inability to consistently hit free throws really hurt the Kentucky basketball team. The biggest was of course Kentucky’s Sweet Sixteen loss to K-State when Washington went 8-for-20 at the foul line.

PJ was solid contributor on this year’s team. He brought unmatched intensity to the Wildcats, and other members of the team appeared to feed off his energy. Washington has a bright future and could be the leader of next year’s team.