Malachi Moreno eager to grow his playmaking skills under Mark Pope's offense

Malachi Moreno was a talented passer at Georgetown’s Great Crossing High School, but he’s expecting to take another leap in that area during his time as a Kentucky Wildcat.

Luckily for him, head coach Mark Pope is all about his playmaking bigs. Amari Williams, a burly seven-footer, was essentially running Kentucky’s offense near the end of the 2024-25 season before the Boston Celtics scooped him up in the second round of the NBA Draft. 6-foot-10 Brandon Garrison, now entering year two in Pope’s system, will be put in position to do something similar this coming season after showing flashes of potential as a sophomore playing behind Williams.

Moreno is next in line to follow in their footsteps.

“Coach, he loves a passing big man,” Moreno told reporters last Thursday. “And I feel like in high school, I was more of a passer than a scorer because I always wanted to keep my teammates involved. I think being able to play here also lets me take what I was good at in high school and still add it to what I have here.”

Listed at 6-foot-11, 230 pounds on UK’s official men’s basketball website, Moreno was tough to defend for multiple reasons during his high school days. But not because he was simply bigger than everyone else — he was also a smarter player. Moreno averaged 21.5 points, 14.9 rebounds, 3.6 blocks, and an impressive 3.5 assists per outing as a senior at Great Crossing en route to winning a state championship.

The rebounding and shot-blocking capabilities immediately stand out when watching him play, but the passing chops are what separate him from the rest of his peers. Moreno finished high school as the top-ranked center in the country by the Rivals Industry Ranking for a reason. Already halfway through summer practices, he and Pope have been focusing plenty on his passing skills, getting them up to speed for the college level.

“We’ve been working on it a lot,” Moreno said. “Just being able to make those different reads and different passes.”

Having Garrison as a teacher has made the transition to Kentucky a bit easier for Moreno, who added that practice has been more of a mental challenge as opposed to a physical one thus far. Pope is known for having unorthodox terminology — Moreno says Garrison has been providing him with the definitions.

“If I mess up, he’ll teach me on it,” Moreno said of Garrison. “We’re in a teaching period, so having that mentorship as a freshman, it helps out a lot.”

A path to immediate playing time as a true freshman is there for Moreno. With expected starter Jayden Quaintance still on the mend from his torn ACL, there could be a hole in the frontcourt to fill until his return. Moreno could soak up some of those minutes. He’s using the rest of the summer to work on his overall physicality and shooting consistency. Fine-tuning his three-point jumper is in the works.

“It’s in the developmental process,” Moreno said with a grin. “I’m tweaking a few things on my jumpshot, but other than that, it’s been going very well.”

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