Who’s been the biggest surprise in early UK basketball practices? A Kentucky kid
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky staff and players identify Malachi Moreno as the preseason surprise.
- Coaches praise Moreno’s rebounding, rim protection, efficiency and IQ.
- Moreno projects to claim backup center minutes and push starter Brandon Garrison.
Ask around the Kentucky basketball program regarding who’s been the biggest “surprise” player among the Wildcats so far this preseason, and you’re likely to get some variation of the following answer.
“You look every day, and it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, that guy’s been our best player today. Oh, actually, that guy’s been our best player the next day.’ Like every day, it kind of changes on who’s doing what,” UK assistant coach Cody Fueger said.
“Yeah, it’s hard to really pick one, because everyone’s gotten so much better since the first day of summer, the first time we got on campus,” agreed Kentucky star Otega Oweh a few days later.
Stick around past such comments, and the truth comes out. And the truth is that central Kentucky native Malachi Moreno has been turning heads since the moment he showed up on UK’s campus. And he’s still doing it during week four of fall practice.
“The guy that kind of surprised me right from day one of summer was Malachi,” Fueger said in an interview with the Herald-Leader last week. “Because I’ve been watching him with AAU last year, and then you watch him going against 6-3 bigs here in Kentucky, and I’m just like, ‘OK, we’ll see.’
“And then day one, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh!’”
Moreno — listed as 7-foot and 250 pounds for his freshman year at UK — is the state’s reigning Mr. Basketball. He was the first recruit to commit to Mark Pope’s program following the initial wave of additions in the immediate aftermath of the Kentucky’s coach’s arrival last year, so the Wildcats’ coaching staff was plenty familiar with him by the time he got to campus in June.
Between his commitment to the Cats last August and his enrollment in UK this summer, Moreno earned McDonald’s All-American honors, solidified his status as a five-star national recruit and led Great Crossing High School to the Kentucky state championship.
He was a fixture at UK home games last season. Kentucky’s coaches saw him plenty, both with his grassroots basketball team during the summer and with his high school squad in the winter.
They knew he was talented. They knew all about his potential. But until they got him in their own gym — playing their own style — it wasn’t quite clear how exactly he’d fit in with the Wildcats.
Sounds like he’s going to fit in just fine.
“He is one of those guys that — he does things on the floor, you kind of shake your head like, ‘I didn’t actually know that that’s the guy I recruited a year ago,’” Pope said Tuesday at SEC Media Days. “He’s been such an impactful freshman for us so far in training camp.”
It’s always been clear that “college Moreno” would be much different from the high school version.
While the 7-footer got to show off a little of his perimeter skill set over his final years of prep ball, his value so far — especially to his high school team — has been more on the block. As Fueger pointed out, the state of Kentucky is not known for boasting an overwhelming number of true bigs, so when you get a player with that kind of size and skill around the basket, that’s where you put him to work.
That panned out beautifully for Great Crossing, which rode Moreno — 21.5 points, 14.9 rebounds and 3.6 blocks per game, with a 72.1% field-goal percentage as a senior — to its first state title, while he earned top individual player honors in Kentucky.
The Warhawks won all four of their Sweet 16 games by double digits. Moreno tallied a triple-double in the 11th Region championship and put 24 points and 15 rebounds in the box score in the state title game.
All the while, everyone who watched him knew there was more to his game. Even so, his arrival in Lexington has been a pleasant surprise.
“His IQ — that’s probably surprised me the most,” Fueger said.
Moreno is a smart player who asks good questions, takes in the answers and has consistently shown a “great feel for the game” — Fueger’s words again — as he gets acclimated to Pope’s system and college basketball in general.
After Oweh moved past the platitude of “everyone has looked great,” Moreno was the first player he singled out as a true surprise.
“Malachi, he’s just a beast down low,” he said. “And he put on a lot of weight, or like, muscle when he got here. So I feel like that’s what added to it. But he’s just been so physical, super efficient.”
Pope said Tuesday that the newcomer has been shooting above 80% from the field in full scrimmages this fall. The UK head coach noted last week that Moreno has been the team’s top rebounder in five-on-five play so far.
“He’s unbelievable on the glass,” Pope said, also mentioning his ability to protect the rim outside his own defensive zone.
Senior guard Denzel Aberdeen, a transfer from Florida, had similar thoughts.
“I didn’t know much about him until, obviously, we got on campus. I looked at his background a little bit. He was a McDonald’s All-American. A very tall person, obviously,” Aberdeen said with a chuckle. “Malachi has been great for us. Each and every day in practice, he’s bringing it. He’s competing. And he’s someone I love playing with when we’re scrimmaging against each other.
“Malachi is a very poised big. He brings it each and every day. He competes each and every day. And he’s just my best friend off the court, as well.”
That last bit might sound out of the ordinary — a senior calling a freshman his best friend on the roster — but it’s not too surprising. Moreno, who turns 19 later this month, is known for being mature beyond his years — another key aspect of a skill set that has led to talk that he could one day turn into a first-round NBA draft pick.
But that’s likely a little further down the road.
“He’s gonna have some growing pains, because he’s a freshman,” Pope said, making sure to pump the brakes a little before the hype went too far. “But his impact is incredible.”
And Kentucky fans should get to see that impact — and those growing pains that will surely come with it — soon enough.
With Jayden Quaintance, who is projected as an NBA lottery pick after this season, still recovering from March knee surgery and likely to be sidelined for another several weeks, the Wildcats will go into the 2025-26 season with more playing time in the middle to go around.
Junior big man Brandon Garrison is expected to be the team’s starting 5 for the regular-season opener against Nicholls on Nov. 4, but Pope will need production from elsewhere in the frontcourt, and Moreno might be in the best position to grab minutes as UK’s backup center.
On Tuesday, Kentucky’s coach talked up that duo as if they’ll be playing quite a bit to start the season. Pope said Garrison, who struggled with conditioning when he arrived in Lexington last year, has made an “unbelievable” transformation there. He once again cited the “incredible impact” Moreno has had on UK’s earliest practices.
“Those two get it,” Pope said of the frontcourt duo. “They love each other right now, because they are pushing each other so hard. It’s a fist fight every day, and they’re both getting better because of it. It’s pretty fun to watch.”
This story was originally published October 15, 2025 at 6:45 AM.
