Is Kam Williams close to a return? Injured Wildcat hits a milestone in recovery
Is Mark Pope about to get some reinforcements for the stretch run of this Kentucky basketball season?
The UK head coach continues to leave the door open for the return of Kam Williams and Jayden Quaintance as the postseason nears, and it sounds like one of those Cats could be closer to a potential comeback than previously thought.
After acknowledging on his weekly radio show Wednesday night that Quaintance and Williams — both starter-level players who have been sidelined since January due to injury — are still working behind the scenes in hopes of a return to the court, Pope said Thursday afternoon that Williams, in particular, is making strides in his recovery.
“I think we’re a lot closer with Kam right now than we are with JQ,” he said. “And so we’ll see. I mean, it’s kind of the finish line here. A lot of it will depend on how Saturday feels and how the SEC Tournament goes.”
Kentucky will play its regular season finale against No. 5 Florida at 4 p.m. ET Saturday in Rupp Arena, with the SEC Tournament set for next week — UK could start its postseason journey Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, depending on the results of this weekend’s games — and the NCAA Tournament coming the week after that.
Pope said that trying to figure out how late is “too late” to get his injured players back into the rotation with a realistic expectation of making a positive impact remains a factor in the decision-making process, but it’s clear that he thinks there’s still a window of opportunity, especially in Williams’ case.
“There’s definitely space, and Kam has had a really positive impact on our team,” he said. “You know, he hasn’t been able to play for quite a while now, but he also has a (skill set) where he’s had a positive impact on the game, even when he’s not fine-tuned offensively, just with his length and his mobility and his physicality. He’s had a positive impact on us, especially on the defensive end. So we’ll see. He’s getting closer. He had a really good workout yesterday — a non-contact workout — and so we’ll see where that goes.”
Asked by the Herald-Leader if there is a more specific timetable for Williams’ return to play, Pope revealed a new milestone for Thursday.
“We’re going to see if we can slip him into a little bit of practice today,” he said. “I don’t know if he’ll get any contact today, but we’re pushing it with him. But he’s also been working incredibly hard. He’s made good progress. So, we’ll see. The question is, once he gets into any type of full-speed stuff, like, how does it respond? And that’s going to be the question we’ll be asking over the next (few) days.”
Williams suffered a broken foot in Kentucky’s win over Texas on Jan. 21 and has been sidelined since. He underwent surgery shortly after the injury and needed a scooter to get around in the immediate aftermath of that procedure, though he’s been out of a walking boot for more than a week now and has resumed on-court activities in recent days.
A return to actual practice Thursday would be a major positive as he works his way back.
Williams — a 6-foot-8 sophomore — was one of Kentucky’s top defensive players and had worked his way into the starting lineup before his injury. He can also be a 3-point threat for the Cats, and any time he could give the team down the stretch would take some of the pressure off starting guards Otega Oweh, Denzel Aberdeen and Collin Chandler, who have all been logging major minutes since his injury.
Quaintance — a 6-10 forward and potential lottery pick in this year’s NBA draft — has been dealing with swelling in his surgically repaired knee. He’s gone through a series of strength tests this week, but time is quickly running out on his potential return to the court this season.
Getting Williams back could be a boon for UK’s postseason hopes, however, especially given his ability to make a positive impact through his defense and high-energy play.
“He’s earned everything he’s gotten here,” Pope said. “He’s kind of proved it every step of the way, all the way to working his way into the starting lineup and really growing into that. And he’s barely, barely, barely scratched the surface of what he could be.
“He’s got some things that he’s going to overcome in his journey to reaching his ceiling as a player. But if he can do it, he’s got a chance to be special. And I love the fact that he’s dying to play right now. He’s dying to play. And so he’s doing everything he can to get in.”
