Why a 7-foot Englishman may be the key to the 2024-25 UK men’s basketball season

Like most sports-minded little boys growing up in Nottingham, England, Amari Williams had eyes for only one sport.

“I always liked soccer more than basketball,” Williams says. “Then I had my growth spurt late. It got to the point where, I knew, I had to start playing basketball.”

When the first Kentucky men’s basketball season of the Mark Pope coaching era tips off, it is possible that the key player on the UK roster will be a 7-foot Englishman whose height ended his soccer dreams.

One of the unique features of the “five-out” offensive system Pope is importing to UK is that the team’s center often plays behind the 3-point arc — and has a primary role as a ball distributor.

Last season, in what turned out to be Pope’s final season as head man at BYU, the Cougars ranked No. 14 in adjusted offensive efficiency in the Pomeroy Ratings. Helping make the BYU offense hum was the passing of 6-foot-10, 255-pound center Aly Khalifa — who averaged four assists a game.

You don’t see a lot of centers in college hoops with a four-to-one assist/turnover ratio. That is what Khalifa — who, interestingly, transferred to Louisville in the offseason — averaged in 2023-24.

A transfer from Charlotte to BYU, Khalifa was such a good passer in his one season playing for Pope that the UK coach says the big man “actually changed the way that I think about processing the game a little bit, changed passing angles and changed passing alternatives and tracking the whole process of tracking as a big when you’re working in any number of actions.”

For Pope’s new team, it is Williams, a former Drexel Dragons center, who appears best equipped to become the next successful “point center.”

Last season at Drexel, Williams had eight games in which he had three or more assists. For the season, he averaged 1.9 dimes a game. Two years ago, Williams averaged 2.3 assists and had 12 games with three or more assists.

The three-time Coastal Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Year , Williams — who has averaged 1.8 blocked shots and 1.6 assists over his four-year college career to date — brings an eclectic skill set to his super-senior season at Kentucky.

There is a theory that Williams’ background in youth soccer in England helped him develop the passing instincts that have served him well in college basketball in the United States.

“Personally, I’m not sure how that translated,” Williams says, “but a lot of coaches say that’s how my passing (skills) came about.”

Even as his life has taken him to a different sport and a different country, Williams still has ample passion invested in his native country’s favorite sport.

His favorite Premier League teams are his hometown club Nottingham Forest F.C. as well as Chelsea F.C., he told reporters last week at UK men’s basketball media day.

When a reporter thanked Williams for using in conversation the American term “soccer” and not the preferred British name “football,” the center smiled.

“I have to change just so you guys understand me,” Williams said.

The basketball journey that led Williams from the U.K. to UK began with “just kind of playing for fun,” he said. “I played against older guys. Eventually, I got to the national level where you go against European countries.”

Having developed into a standout player in American college hoops, Williams sees himself as part of a steady advancement in elevating basketball in the United Kingdom. “We’re trying to do our part to grow the sport of basketball in England,” he said.

Britain’s Tosan Evbuomwan, a former Princeton Tigers star, played last season for the NBA”s Detroit Pistons on a two-way contract. New York Knicks standout OG Anunoby was born in London.

“And we’ve got a few spread around at (college basketball programs) around the (United States),” Williams says of British basketball.

This season for Kentucky, Pope expressed confidence that both Williams and 6-10, 250-pound Oklahoma State transfer Brandon Garrison (1.5 assists in 22.7 minutes a game last season for OSU) have the court vision to succeed in the new UK offensive system.

When Williams was presented with the thought that he, a shot-blocking center, could lead UK men’s basketball in assists, he did not cower.

“It can happen, just (because of) the way we play, the players we have,” Williams says. “I’ve got shooters around me. (Pope) instills confidence in them to always shoot when open. So I feel like that’s where a lot of my assists will come from. We’ve got a good cutting team, too. So if I find the cutter, that will help (the assist total), too.”

In a season of dramatic change for UK basketball, the most noticeable difference may just be the sight of the Wildcats initiating their offense through a 7-foot Englishman.

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