Kam Williams stepped up in his first start with a breakout performance vs. Loyola MD

Kam Williams finally had his Kentucky moment on Friday night, delivering the breakout performance fans had been waiting for in Kentucky’s 88-46 win over Loyola Maryland. Making his first career start in place of the injured Mouhamed Dioubate, Williams produced his most complete stat line of the season: 13 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and a game-high +40 in 26 minutes.

After spending the first five games trying to find his place in the rotation, Williams said the move into the starting lineup changed his mentality.

“I would say that the starting group, they kind of start the energy for the whole team,” Williams told Jack Givens on the UK Sports Network. “They told me that, coming off the bench, they wanted me to be the spark energy guy. So I just had to bring that into the starting lineup. Start off the best that we can.”

He did exactly that. By halftime, Williams already had seven points, five rebounds, three assists, and a steal, and Kentucky led 50-20. He was aggressive, he crashed the glass, pushed the pace, and looked far more comfortable than he had at any point in the first two weeks of the season.

Through five games, Williams averaged just 3.6 points, was hesitant to shoot, and was still adjusting to the jump from Tulane. But even during that quiet start, he remained the only Wildcat who hadn’t posted a negative plus/minus all season, hinting that his impact was better than his scoring suggested.

“He’s going to be great by the end of the season.”

“He’s been interesting since the get go,” said Mark Pope in the postgame press conference. “His stat line, since the get go, in practice has been really interesting. He just shows up in every category of the stat line.”

Pope even connected Williams’ emergence to a familiar example from his first Kentucky team, noting similarities to Koby Brea, now with the Phoenix Suns. “He’s got a little bit of Koby Brea vibe,” Pope said. “Koby, early in the season was reluctant to get downhill and actually get into the dirty work of the physicality of the game and the paint. [Kam] actually was stubborn a couple of times getting downhill today.”

Pope also made clear that Williams’ breakout is only the beginning.

“He’s got a ton of growth that he’s got to do,” Pope said. “He’s a stat stuffer. He does it quietly sometimes, but we need him to be great. He’s going to be great by the end of the season. He’s got a long, long way to go.”

Williams took a major step toward that on Friday.

Williams reacts to his near double-double

When Williams sat down courtside for his postgame interview, Jack Givens pointed out that he was just one rebound shy of a double-double. Williams knew it, too.

“I was trying to get 10,” he said, laughing. “I missed the last three, I think.”

Williams finished with 13 points and nine rebounds, his most productive night as a Wildcat, but he wasn’t the team’s leading rebounder. Brandon Garrison, who lost his starting job for a night, grabbed a season-high 11 boards off the bench, and Williams couldn’t resist taking a friendly shot at his teammate.

“I gotta tell him,” Williams said. “He took two of my rebounds.”

Still, after nearly posting a double-double in his first Kentucky start, Williams sounded like a player finally settling into who he can be for this team.