CJ Fredrick’s in a slump. How can Kentucky basketball fix that as SEC play looms?
Given the weight of preseason expectations and the standout early-season performances, John Calipari probably expected to be asked about CJ Fredrick on Saturday night.
Calipari nodded along inside the Madison Square Garden press room, listening attentively as the Herald-Leader asked about his plan of action for Fredrick, the senior guard and Cincinnati native still just 10 games into his Kentucky career.
After Fredrick transferred to UK from Iowa in May 2021, anticipation built around the arrival of a former Kentucky high school star turned proficient collegiate three-point shooter.
Then came a stress fracture in his leg, a strained hamstring and a tear in that same hamstring that forced Fredrick to miss all of last season.
Along with his Kentucky teammates, Fredrick returned to the scene of that hamstring tear last weekend, when Kentucky lost to UCLA in the CBS Sports Classic at MSG. But there was no redemption-arc moment for Fredrick, who suffered that hamstring tear in the layup line before UK’s Champions Classic game in New York City in November 2021.
On Saturday, Fredrick played just six minutes, attempted no shots and recorded no countable statistics against UCLA.
It was the second straight game in which Fredrick hasn’t scored, a stark contrast to early-season scoring displays against Howard (20 points) and South Carolina State (17).
In fact, Fredrick hasn’t scored in the most recent 17 minutes that he has been on the court for Kentucky. This span has been spread across three games, dating back to a second-half three-pointer against Michigan two weeks ago.
These aren’t exactly ideal markers to have for a player expected to provide the outside shooting necessary to space a Kentucky offense centered around Oscar Tshiebwe.
In Kentucky’s four marquee non-conference games this season — Michigan State, Gonzaga, Michigan and UCLA — Fredrick has combined for 11 points (2.75 points per game) on 3-for-15 three-point shooting (20%).
“I haven’t lost any faith in him,” Calipari said Saturday night. “I just think this is going to play out over a period of time, and the guys that should be on the floor will be on there.”
Calipari expanded on this thought during his weekly radio show on Monday night.
The Kentucky head coach recounted a conversation he recently had with Fredrick.
“CJ, I think you’re still going to have a big impact on what happens this year,” Calipari recalled telling Fredrick. “Yeah, you’re missing some shots, haven’t been playing as well as you have been, haven’t been playing as much.”
Part of Calipari’s Saturday night answer to the Herald-Leader about Fredrick was cloaked in a compliment.
He said that at one point Saturday, Fredrick was supposed to enter the game for freshman Chris Livingston, but Fredrick himself asked to stay on the bench because Livingston — who had a career-high 14 points in a career-high 24 minutes — was playing so well.
“That’s a hell of a teammate,” Calipari emphasized.
This action was a noble one, and something that should highlight Fredrick’s maturity and self-awareness.
It could also prove to be an example of how Fredrick might return to significant role player status within the Kentucky rotation.
For the better part of the last two months, Calipari admonished himself for not giving Livingston enough playing time, repeatedly stating that he needed to find ways to get the freshman forward on the court.
And while that finally came to fruition Saturday night, so did the other part of that equation: someone else losing playing time to Livingston.
“He’s never stopped working in practice,” Calipari said of Livingston making the most of his moment. “Other guys were having the first opportunity, and now all of a sudden, he has the opportunity. He’s not pouting. He just showed you what he was.”
Fredrick might already be up against it to win back some of the playing time he once held.
Kentucky’s remaining schedule this season features only one more mid-major opponent: Florida A&M on Wednesday night at Rupp Arena.
The remaining 20 games will consist of Louisville and Kansas at home, and 18 SEC contests. These aren’t ideal conditions for experimentation.
“You’re going to be in wars every game,” Calipari said looking ahead to league play. “For us it’s figuring out, all right, how are we doing this, with which group, who is it?”
The answer to that question remains in flux amid Kentucky’s consistent offensive struggles, in particular against high-major competition.
How much run Fredrick can expect to get while working through his scoring slump also remains a mystery. There’s a natural fallacy in giving a scorer heavy playing time when the end product isn’t there.
Prior to this season, UK associate coach Orlando Antigua spoke to the Herald-Leader about Fredrick, stressing that the guard was more than just a shooter and highlighting the other attributes he brings to the table.
“He’s got great feel,” Antigua said. “He passes the ball. He knows how to use that weapon to help himself and his teammates, to elevate his teammates.”
To an extent this has been true: Fredrick boasts the best assist-to-turnover ratio of anyone on the Kentucky team at 4-1, although his 16 total assists in 209 minutes played is not a remarkable figure.
But perhaps this could be an avenue to more playing time for Fredrick, or maybe a spark could be rekindled in an on-court partnership with another shooter, Antonio Reeves.
Clear answers on this front currently don’t exist for Kentucky, and time is running out fast to see if one will arrive.
Next game
Florida A&M at No. 13 Kentucky
What: Unity Series
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Florida A&M 2-7, Kentucky 7-3
Series: Kentucky leads 1-0.
Last meeting: Kentucky won 96-76 on March 19, 2004, in the NCAA Tournament in Columbus, Ohio.
This story was originally published December 19, 2022 at 6:45 AM.
