Amari Williams has become the Kentucky Wildcats’ most important player and is deserving of All-SEC honors. Through SEC play, the big man has averaged a near double-double with 11.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in just 24 minutes.

With Lamont Butler and Jaxson Robinson out of the lineup to injuries the last three games, Williams’ numbers have leaped to 17.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 3.3 assists, with just a small bump in minutes to 27 per game.

That begs the question: Should Williams be playing more minutes?

Mark Pope says no.

“Efficiency drops when Amari’s off the floor. It also drops when Amari is on the floor a little bit too long,” Pope said on his Monday call-in show. “As he gets stretched and stretched, you start to see cracks in what he’s able to do energy-wise. He’s most efficient and most impactful when he can be somewhere between 20 and 28 minutes.”

Pope has mentioned multiple times a study that he and the rest of the staff conducted earlier this season to find each player’s most efficient stretches in the game. He has leaned on that to this point, and it doesn’t sound like he will be going away from it anytime soon.

Looking at his career minutes, Williams has only had one season where he averaged more than 23 minutes per game, his junior season at Drexel (27.4 mpg). Last season, as a fourth-year senior, he averaged nearly five minutes less per game (22.9 mpg) but still maintained the same player efficiency ratings while improving efficiency in other areas.

Not playing 30 minutes for the majority of his career, and Pope sticking to the analytics, it looks like Williams will continue to play around that 25 minutes per game. That means Brandon Garrison needs to take a step and help close that gap of productivity with March just on the horizon.

If you look at the metrics, Garrison has been part of many of Kentucky’s least-efficient lineups this season.

That needs to change in a big way for Kentucky to stay above water whenever Williams leaves the game. We’ve seen flashes from Garrison throughout the season — including his recent outburst vs. South Carolina — but he’s not come close to putting it together on a game-to-game basis like Williams has.

Of course, it wasn’t that long ago when Williams was enduring his own struggles. Some even wondered if Garrison should be taking more of his minutes early in SEC play, but thankfully, Williams has since turned the corner in a big way.

Can Garrison follow suit?

Also posted on A Sea of Blue.

Despite Mark Pope resurfacing the concept of Kentucky’s “new season”, in reference to the impact that injuries have had on their roster, after the Alabama game, two of the team’s three absentees appear to be ramping up for a return just one game later.

Both Lamont Butler and Jaxson Robinson were listed as “Probable” on yesterday’s injury report for the ‘Cats road matchup with the Oklahoma Sooners. Whether or not they’ll actually return, or in what specific manner, is yet to be seen – but the prospect alone is sure to provide a collective sigh of relief to the big blue nation.

Unfortunately, Kerr Kriisa remains “OUT”, although his return may be more complicated considering the oft-discussed potential for a medical redshirt and comeback next season.

After missing three games with a shoulder injury he originally suffered against Texas A&M, Butler returned to play against the South Carolina Gamecocks on Feb. 8, leading Kentucky to a blowout win at home. Just one game later, he’d exacerbate the same injury issue against the Tennessee Volunteers, and has since been relegated to the sideline.

Robinson hasn’t seen the floor since playing through a hand injury against the Gamecocks, which he suffered in a non-contact incident in practice just days before.

The Final Stretch

While Kentucky has held their own in the toughest conference in the country in their wake, the Wildcats find themselves on the ropes following a blowout loss, with multiple road games and a date with the #1 team in the country still left on the schedule; in short, their probable pair of starting seniors couldn’t come back soon enough.

And the Sooners, at 17-10 overall, 4-10 in the SEC, may provide the perfect opportunity for a (potentially) lower stakes appearance for the both of them.

You can catch Kentucky vs. Oklahoma at 9:00 p.m. on ESPN tonight. A long-awaited homecoming, albeit away from home, may finally be in the cards for the ‘Cats.

Mark Pope has received three top-35 commitments in his first high school recruiting class, including two high 4-star commits in Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno.

However, his first top-10 prospect still eludes him after missing out on Caleb Wilson last month… at least for now.

Over the last few weeks, Pope and his staff have focused heavily on top-five prospect Nate Ament.

Ament, the second-ranked power forward in the 2025 class, cut his list down to five schools earlier this week: Duke, Louisville, Tennessee, Arkansas, and the Kentucky Wildcats.

The 6-foot-9 prospect has visited each of them except Arkansas over the last five months, with a decision expected in the next month or so. Where does each program stand?

According to Joe Tipton of On3, Louisville and Duke have “positioned themselves” the best in this recruitment, giving Pat Kesley and the Cardinals a slight lead. However, there is still time, and one thing that could shake things up the most is NIL, reported to be one of Ament’s biggest priorities.

Elsewhere at On3, Jamie Shaw did his own update, where he said this could be down to a Kentucky vs. Louisville battle.

“Speaking with sources at this point in time it does sound like there is a split room around Nate Ament with Duke, Louisville, and Kentucky. With the intel I am currently getting, I would not be surprised to see this ultimately come down to a Kentucky and Louisville battle,” Shaw wrote, later adding that a decision could come in the next few weeks.

Ament is fresh off a visit to Kentucky, where he saw Rupp Arena at its best as the Wildcats completed the season sweep of Tennessee. That being his most recent visit, along with Pope visiting for Ament’s Senior night, the hope is it made a lasting impact, but will it be enough?

Time will tell, but the Cats are a legitimate contender to land Ament.

Be sure to read Shaw’s update here.

Also posted on A Sea of Blue.