‘Any little thing to win.’ Justin McBride brings a selfless approach to Kentucky
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Justin McBride is entering his first season with the Kentucky basketball program.
- Previously, McBride played at Oklahoma State, Nevada and James Madison.
- McBride is a 6-foot-8 forward who averaged 15.3 points last season at James Madison.
Justin McBride was introduced as a Kentucky basketball player amid plenty of fan unease.
McBride — a 6-foot-8 senior forward who is coming off a career season at James Madison — was officially revealed as a transfer portal pickup for Mark Pope’s UK program at 5:51 p.m. on April 28.
McBride’s addition, which was announced on social media by the UK Sports Network, was publicized less than an hour before prized high school recruit Tyran Stokes picked Kansas over Kentucky on national television. While McBride was the 11th player confirmed to be on UK’s roster for next season, he was joining a team perceived to lack adequate scoring and star power, one that was stacking up player-acquisition misses.
What a difference a few months makes.
Kentucky closed portal season strong, landing top transfer Milan Momcilovic from Iowa State and vaulting up the preseason rankings. Pope also locked down an early 2027 commitment from elite prep prospect Ryan Hampton.
These moves have calmed the waters ahead of a crucial third season for Pope in charge of his alma mater. But a leading question for Pope’s third UK squad concerns what McBride can provide to the Cats as an experienced college player.
McBride shed plenty of light on that Thursday afternoon, as he held court with reporters for more than 30 minutes inside Memorial Coliseum. The overarching takeaway? McBride is bringing a selfless, team-centered approach to his fourth college program in as many years.
“Just do any little thing to win,” McBride said. “Obviously, shoot when I’m open and make plays for my teammates and just run the floor and be that dude to just impact the team.”
McBride is well-traveled. Originally a four-star class of 2023 high school recruit from Plano, Texas, McBride spent one season each at Oklahoma State, Nevada and James Madison. He came off the bench at both Oklahoma State and Nevada before flourishing in a starting role at James Madison this past season.
Under the direction of former UK support staff member and current James Madison coach Preston Spradlin, McBride posted career-best averages of 15.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists and shot a career-high 40.0% from 3-point range.
It led to widespread interest when McBride hit the transfer portal in early April. Just a few weeks later, he was on a Zoom call with Pope and the Kentucky coaching staff.
“Obviously, (being) here is a dream come true. All the pros that come here. But just coming here and actually seeing the campus and seeing the role to play, and talking to Coach Pope and the staff and what my role would be here, not just being here just because you want to be here,” McBride said. “... It’s a privilege to be here. So it’s really great and a blessing to be here and just to see my style of play and playing with great teammates.”
McBride, who started 30 of James Madison’s 33 games this past season, will face his old team Nov. 6 when the Dukes visit Rupp Arena. That’ll be the second game of the season for the Cats, their final tune-up before a marquee matchup against Stokes and Kansas on Nov. 10 in Chicago.
McBride said that despite posting a career year during his one-season stop at James Madison, there’s still more to his game that he hopes to showcase at Kentucky.
“I’m a big energy guy, I like to just get my teammates energized and ready to go. If somebody is having a bad time right now, I want to pick them up,” McBride said. “But just an energy guy, and really implementing my shot and improving my shot, 3-point percentage and just doing anything I can do to win this season.”
Some questions remain about how McBride’s play at the 4 spot will transition to high-major hoops. If McBride’s able to level up, it would increase the ceiling for next season’s UK team, given that he’s expected to be a key rotation piece.
While Kentucky has been in summer practice for less than two weeks, one of McBride’s frontcourt partners has already highlighted the veteran’s eagerness to learn.
When speaking to reporters last week, returning sophomore big Malachi Moreno shared a conversation he had with McBride on the practice court.
“Justin McBride actually came to me today at the end of practice. He was just like, ‘How can I find my space? Just to where I can create for others or create for myself?’” Moreno said. “And I was like, ‘Sometimes I post up on this side, you got open catches on the other side. Stay shot ready. I’m gonna get it to you.’ Sometimes when I spin baseline, cut, I said, ‘If it’s open, you take up all that space, but if it’s not, stay out. You’re gonna get an open shot.’”
From McBride’s perspective, he and Moreno are “interchangeable” offensive players.
“We’re working on cuts and different reads we can make with each other, but he’s a very talented player like me,” McBride said. “So, just playing off each other and just making shots.”
These early weeks of summer practice have also seen McBride and his teammates lean on each other as they adjust to a new-look roster. This has included bonding sessions at a house McBride shares with some of his fellow Cats.
Justin McBride has connections to past UK basketball greats
Earlier this week, Pope cut a short segment for the UK Sports Network in which he discussed Kentucky players in a 30-second “race” against a shot clock.
Of McBride, Pope said: “Julius Randle vibes, seriously.”
As it turns out, Pope’s comments lifted the lid on a lengthy list of UK basketball connections for McBride. As a North Texas native, McBride cited three ex-Cats from that part of the country — Tyrese Maxey, P.J. Washington and Randle — as current NBA players that he has relationships with.
Maxey was a standout at South Garland High School, where McBride began his prep career. Randle is from McBride’s hometown of Plano.
“It’s a dream to come here, but Julius Randle is one of my guys I know that I’m really close with back in Dallas,” McBride said. “I talked to him a lot, trained with him back in the summer, too. So it’s just a great dream to pick a guy like that that plays kind of my style of play.”
Among the advice Randle has delivered to McBride — who was in sixth grade when first met the former UK star — is to play with confidence.
“I don’t want to model my game after an NBA player,” McBride said. “I just want to be myself at the end of the day, but I take a little bit of things, (learn from) teaching moments, especially in the summer playing open runs with them and working out with them.”
McBride has also turned to ex-Cat Brandon Garrison, who transferred this offseason to Alabama, for thoughts on how to make the most of his time with the Cats. Garrison and McBride were freshman teammates at Oklahoma State during the 2023-24 season.
“He said nothing but great things,” McBride said of his conversations with Garrison about Kentucky. “He enjoyed his time here, and everything was good about it. So, shoutout to BG.”
Justin McBride hopes to showcase shooting, skill at Kentucky
McBride’s profile as a distance shooter is also something to monitor. Only two players on Kentucky’s roster (Momcilovic and Furman transfer guard Alex Wilkins) posted better 3-point shooting statistics at the college level this past season than McBride, who made 38 treys for James Madison.
That should mesh well with the offense Pope prefers to run. McBride is familiar with it, having seen it up close during that 2023-24 season, when Oklahoma State twice faced Pope’s BYU team. During Thursday’s media session, McBride repeatedly cited the Cougars’ 85-71 victory over the Cowboys on BYU’s Senior Night in March 2024. That ended up being Pope’s final home game as the BYU coach.
“What he does with his power forwards and forwards, they move a lot around the ball, and they can just shoot,” McBride said of Pope’s offensive approach. “I’ve been really increasing my shooting ability and stuff like that, so it was great just to move without the ball and play with great teammates that can look for me to make my shots and make my drives.”
McBride said UK will feature a faster offense this season, thanks in part to the skill and versatility of frontcourt players such as Momcilovic, Moreno and international addition Ousmane N’Diaye.
In preparation, McBride said conditioning and weight loss have been a focus during the offseason. He’s listed on UK’s roster at 6-foot-8 and 250 pounds, an inch taller and 10 pounds heavier than he was listed last season.
McBride said improved conditioning will lead to more success as a ball handler, specifically in his ability to operate in dribble hand-off situations.
The final 247Sports transfer rankings slotted McBride in as the No. 215 portal player this offseason. While he’ll be hoping to outperform these projections, we’re still in the early stages of McBride’s time at Kentucky.
This means he’s soaking everything in, processing advice from coaches and teammates and learning how to best fit in as part of a revamped roster.
“These last two weeks have been great. You’re going to have good days and bad days, but at the end of the day you’re playing the best kids in the country,” McBride said. “You’re going to get better every day at practice and stuff like that. Especially the way we play in Coach Pope’s philosophy.”
