Amari Williams makes Kentucky basketball history during UK’s SEC road loss at Ole Miss
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Game day: No. 25 Ole Miss 98, No. 14 Kentucky 84
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Mississippi in Oxford, Miss.
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For the first time in more than eight years, a Kentucky men’s basketball player has recorded a triple-double.
During UK’s 98-84 road loss at Ole Miss on Tuesday night, fifth-year center Amari Williams had 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for the Wildcats. He recorded that stat line in only 26 minutes on the floor, as well.
Williams shot 5-for-7 from the field and 2-for-4 from the free-throw line. All 11 of his rebounds were defensive boards. He also had three fouls and turnovers each in the game. The 10 assists dished out by Williams were a career high.
Williams — who secured the triple-double with an assist to junior guard Otega Oweh with less than a minute left in the game — is the first Wildcat to record a triple-double since UK sophomore guard Isaiah Briscoe in December 2016. On that occasion, Briscoe had 19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists on Dec. 29, 2016, as Kentucky won 99-76 at Ole Miss.
This marks the fourth triple-double in Kentucky program history with De’Aaron Fox and Chris Mills delivering the other two.
“It’s a good achievement to have, but I would have traded it for the win for sure,” Williams said after Tuesday’s game. “That’s all I’ve got to say about it really. Just wish we went out there and played better defense as a team, and individually, too. That’s the only thing I take away from that.”
Despite Williams’ standout individual night, UK suffered its fourth loss in five games in losing Tuesday at Ole Miss. The Wildcats never led in the game, and the 98 points scored by Ole Miss represented the most points the Ole Miss program has ever scored in a game against UK.
“The truth is Amari, we’re asking him to do so much and he’s raising up and doing it,” UK coach Mark Pope said postgame. “… He’s playing amazing basketball and he’s really stretching and he’s really growing and I’m super proud of it.”
Fox’s triple-double — 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists — also came during the 2016-17 season in a 115-69 win against Arizona State on Nov. 28, 2016, as part of the Atlantis Showcase in the Bahamas.
Mills had the first triple-double in UK men’s basketball history — 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists — in a win against Austin Peay on Dec. 27, 1988, in a game played at Freedom Hall in Louisville. Mills spent only one season at Kentucky, transferring to Arizona after his freshman year.
This story was originally published February 4, 2025 at 9:09 PM.
