Williams' career-high 26 leads 'Cats past Bellarmine 99-85

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.

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.

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 to heal up a little bit more, especially with a break coming up now for a few days.”

Kentucky's next game is at Alabama on Jan. 3. 


(Photo Keith Taylor / Kentucky Today )