Amari Williams has made his decision.
After officially visiting Kentucky Basketball, Williams has committed to the Wildcats.
The news was broken first by Joe Tipton.
Williams’ decision comes after visiting Lexington this past weekend. On all accounts and given his commitment, all things went well, even taking a visit to Keeneland with new head coach Mark Pope.
It should be noted that Williams declared for the 2024 NBA Draft to test out the process, so he still needs to officially withdraw from it, which is expected to happen.
Originally from Nottingham, England, Williams has played the last four years at Drexel. He has career averages of 10.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks.
Statistically, Williams’ best season came as a junior in 2022-23, averaging 13.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 2.2 blocks in 27.3 minutes per game.
This past season, Williams averaged 12.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.8 blocks in 22.9 minutes per game, including eight double-doubles. He’s attempted 26 career 3s and hit eight of them for 30.8%, so he is capable of knocking them down.
From his sophomore season forward, Williams has been named to the All-Coastal Athletic Association Team three times and has won three straight CAA Defensive Player of the Year awards.
The 6-foot-10, 265-pound forward is a physical big. On the offensive end, he scores most of his points at the rim, many of which come in transition or off offensive rebounds, but he is also comfortable extending to the elbow. He is a better passer than one would expect as well, with an 18% assist rate.
As his Defensive Player of the Year awards suggest, Williams makes his biggest impact on the defensive side of the ball. With a 7-foot-5 wingspan, he blocks plenty of shots (8.5% block rate) and alters many more. His physical size and length help him rebound the ball well.
Both were areas Kentucky lacked in last season.
If you’re an analytical guy, Williams has been a top-20 player in player efficiency ratings the previous two seasons, with a 28.5 PER each season.
For reference, Kentucky’s most efficient players last season, Reed Sheppard and Antonio Reeves, both had a PER of 23.6.
Evan Miya, one of the best analytics gurus in college hoops, has Williams ranked 14th overall among transfers in DBPR for next season, which measures the defensive value a player brings to his team when he is on the court. So Kentucky just landed one of the best defensive transfers in America.
With his commitment, Williams becomes Kentucky’s first transfer under Mark Pope and just the second commitment overall, joining Collin Chandler, a 4-star recruit of the 2022 class returning from a mission trip this summer.
It’s worth noting that he played alongside fellow Kentucky target and Utah State transfer Great Osobor in England. Could the two join forces in Lexington as Kentucky’s frontcourt?
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