Instant offense: UK basketball adds 2,000-point scorer from Davidson
“One of the best players in the country,” according to John Calipari, is now a Kentucky Wildcat.
UK announced Monday the addition of Kellan Grady, a graduate transfer from Davidson, to its roster for the 2021-22 season.
The 6-foot-5 guard will join the Cats after scoring more than 2,000 points in four seasons at Davidson. He averaged at least 17.1 points per game in all four years.
“I’m very excited to be a Wildcat again and play for Coach Calipari at the University of Kentucky,” Grady said in a statement released by UK. “It is a tremendous opportunity to compete at the highest level and pursue my dreams. I’m grateful for the opportunity and eager to get to work.”
Grady will be Kentucky’s fourth graduate transfer over the last four seasons. UK added Reid Travis from Stanford for 2018-19, Nate Sestina from Bucknell for 2019-20 and Davion Mintz from Creighton last season.
Under NCAA graduate transfer rules, Grady will be eligible to play for the Wildcats in the fall after graduating from Davidson with an undergraduate degree in sociology. He is expected to graduate in May.
Previous additions to next season’s UK roster include West Virginia transfer center Oscar Tshiebwe and three incoming recruits: point guard Nolan Hickman, wing Bryce Hopkins, and power forward Daimion Collins.
Grady scored 2,002 career points at Davidson on 47.2 percent shooting. He shot a career-best 38.2 percent from three-point range this season.
“His size, his skills, his scoring ability and his playmaking ability speak volumes to the player that he is,” Calipari said. “Kellan played in a great program under a terrific coach, Bob McKillop. He is a four-year starter whose toughness and fight will add to our team. His game-to-game consistency — his scoring, his ability to share the ball and his defense — is part of what makes him special, and we are ecstatic to have him join a team that was close last season but needed what he gives us to get over to the top.”
Grady, a Boston native who was ranked by 247Sports as the No. 69 overall recruit in the 2017 class, was a two-time first-team All-Atlantic 10 selection. He averaged 18.0 points per game his freshman season, 17.3 as a sophomore, 17.2 as a junior and 17.1 this season. He averaged 4.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game in 2020-21.
He also already has a bit of history with Kentucky. He scored 16 points in a 78-73, first-round loss to the Cats in the 2018 NCAA Tournament.
This story was originally published March 29, 2021 at 5:08 PM.
