Even on off nights, Amari Williams is Kentucky’s blueprint for success
By Mark Knight
Amari Williams struggled more against Western Kentucky than he has all season. Western Kentucky challenged him at the top of the key, which caused some extra frustrations. As a five-man expected to run a key piece of the offense from the point, he needs to be sharp, or turnovers are bound to happen. He had four turnovers in the first half and missed some easy shots to boot. He was hard to watch at times, but that's not the full story.
He actually started the game with an assist and picked up two more in the first half. He also had a block to help on the defensive end. However, for Kentucky fans, those turnovers and missed shots were driving them batty.
Nobody on this team is more frustrating that Amari Williams lol
— Kentucky Sports Talk (@KentuckyZone) November 27, 2024
Cmon man
He was able to clean things up a bit more in the second half, only having two turnovers, which is a much more realistic total than four in a half. Yet, the confusing part of Amari Williams's frustrating play is that he also was really good. What?! Exactly.
Amari Williams didn’t play great against Western Kentucky. Can’t have your starting 5-man go 1-4 from the floor with 6 turnovers.
— Brandon Ramsey (@BRamseyKSR) November 27, 2024
However, he still had 8 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, & 4 blocks.
18 assists, 12 turnovers on the year. Let’s not overreact to one performance.
Not only that, but the morning after the game, Evan Miyakawa released new stats and ratings, stating that Amari Williams is graded as the best defensive player in the entire country—not one of the best, the absolute best.
Here are the leaders in defensive rating at https://t.co/cegyfz96ax based on Defensive BPR:
— Evan Miyakawa (@EvanMiya) November 27, 2024
1. Amari Williams
2. Johni Broome
3. Kobe Johnson
4. Joseph Tugler
5. Dillon Mitchell
6. Cooper Flagg
7. Cameron Matthews
8. Eric Dailey
9. Hunter Dickinson
10. Felix Okpara
When you dig into Miyakawa's ratings, he's graded as the best defensive rebounder and projected defensive rebounder. He also is listed as the top DBPR, which is a ranking based on how much better a team does when a specific player is on the floor. He does all this in less than 20 minutes per game, 19.3
In the post-game comments, head coach Mark Pope didn't specifically call out Amari Williams but said that they won that game because of what they were able to do on the defensive end. Williams had 4 blocks and 10 defensive rebounds. He was only one basket away from having a double-double. Therefore, we have to ask are we expecting too much from him? Or maybe is Mark Pope?
Pope doesn't seem to think so; he actually sees his development only as skyrocketing throughout the season.
Mark Pope on Amari Williams: "In a few months, you're hardly going to recognize him."
— Wyatt Huff (@Wildcat_wave) November 27, 2024
Says he is really going to grow a lot making plays and reading the defense/offense. He's excited for it.
Williams may have had an off game against Western Kentucky, but he is so good as a player that he still ended up having a good statistical game. It feels like Kentucky had the same output. They also had a down day offensively but still won by 19 points.
Tonight was @KentuckyMBB’s largest margin of victory in a game in which they shot worse than 41% from the field, worse than 28% from 3, and worse than 70% at the free-throw line (19 points) since December 8th, 2004 (defeated Morehead State by 31 points while shooting 39.4% from…
— Corey Price (@coreyp08) November 27, 2024
Amari and Kentucky are tied together, and he's a big key to Kentucky's success, especially defensively. He's part of the blueprint for success.
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