UK’s Kam Williams underwent a second surgery. Mark Pope explains his outlook
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- UK basketball coach Mark Pope provides an injury update on junior guard Kam Williams.
- Williams is recovering from a broken foot that he sustained in January.
- Despite suffering a broken foot, Williams returned to play in last season’s postseason.
Kentucky men’s basketball coach Mark Pope held a press conference with media members Friday morning for the first time since UK’s 2025-26 season ended March 22 with a second-round NCAA Tournament loss to Iowa State.
One of the major topics the third-year Kentucky coach addressed was the ongoing recovery process for rising junior guard Kam Williams, who suffered a broken left foot in January before returning to play for the Cats during the 2025-26 postseason.
On Friday, Pope said Williams’ recovery has included a second surgery to help repair the injury.
“His recovery was going tremendously. He was able to actually play in the postseason for us, was really helpful. Continued to progress and progress and get better and better, and then he just stalled. The healing stalled a little bit. When he was kind of in the 90% healed (range) it started to regress,” Pope said. “He went and had another surgery. He’s progressing great right now and we have high, high, high confidence that we’ll have him for the season.”
The 6-foot-7 Williams hasn’t been able to participate on the court during UK’s eight-week summer practice session. The Cats just finished the sixth week of that session. The focus this summer has been on ensuring Williams’ foot injury heals completely. As part of this pursuit, Williams’ left foot has been in a protective walking boot and he’s used crutches to help move around. Williams was seen with this setup Saturday afternoon at Historic Memorial Coliseum when members of the Kentucky men’s basketball team attended a game in The Basketball Tournament to support UK alumni team La Familia.
“Kam’s a difference-maker for us. I have every expectation he’ll be back,” said Pope, who had moved Williams into UK’s starting lineup in January just prior to the injury occurring. “It’s been painful for him, literally and figuratively, to miss this summer. It’s a big summer for him. But he’s been incredibly active. He’s coaching the guys from the sideline, he’s been unbelievable. He’s actually working the score clock and there’s been some controversy surrounding that... But he’s important for us. He’s shown to be way better than his raw numbers show in terms of his impact on that game. He’s a veteran voice for us. He’ll be important.”
Williams’ sophomore campaign — and his first season with the Cats — was derailed by the foot injury. He was diagnosed with a Jones fracture following the Jan. 21 home win against Texas. Williams had his first surgery for the injury Jan. 23 and missed the next 12 games before returning less than two months later in the SEC Tournament.
Williams played in all five of UK’s postseason games, and he finished his second college season with per-game averages of 6.0 points and 2.1 rebounds. He shot 35.9% from 3-point range across 24 contests.
Williams’ father, Greg Williams Sr., told the Herald-Leader earlier this summer his son’s injury status shouldn’t be a cause for long-term concern. When Williams opted to return to the floor for Kentucky last season, he prioritized being able to contribute to UK’s postseason run and chose to delay a full recovery from the injury. Greg Williams Sr. also said his son performed some basketball activities after Kentucky’s season ended.
“What he has to do is make a choice between wanting to continue to have activity and heal slowly, or kind of just shut it down, get fully healed, and then get in shape. Because if you continue to go real hard, your recovery is going to be slow,” Williams Sr. said. “Do you want to heal fast? Or do you want it to continue to go slow and not allow you to be who you want to be? So, when you see him in a boot, he’s made a decision that, ‘Look, let me just let this heal.’”
Williams arrived at Kentucky following a standout freshman year at Tulane, during which the Louisiana native averaged 9.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per contest and made 41.2% of his 3-point tries. Williams was ranked the No. 42 transfer portal player by 247Sports during the 2025 offseason.
Williams is one of five returnees for Pope on Kentucky’s 2026-27 roster, along with redshirt freshman forward Braydon Hawthorne, sophomore center Malachi Moreno, junior forward Trent Noah and redshirt junior forward Reece Potter. The Cats’ outlook for next season has been bolstered by the transfer portal additions of senior forward Milan Momcilovic (Iowa State), senior forward Justin McBride (James Madison), junior guard Zoom Diallo (Washington) and sophomore guard Alex Wilkins (Furman), among others.
Several UK players have been sidelined during the summer practice period. Seventh-year center Franck Kepnang and senior forward Justin McBride have also missed time.
Kepnang’s absence i part of a full-recovery plan instituted by Kentucky’s performance and medical staffs because he’s sustained multiple knee injuries during his college career. Last season while at Washington, Kepnang suffered a stress reaction in his leg.
McBride has recently been sidelined due to an illness.
This story was originally published July 24, 2026 at 9:43 AM with the headline "UK’s Kam Williams underwent a second surgery. Mark Pope explains his outlook."
