Milan Momcilovic will help Kentucky basketball fix last season’s biggest problem
Over and over last season, I looked onto the court during Kentucky men’s basketball games and the same thought filled my mind:
Man, I don’t like this combination.
Though injuries suffered by key players played a role, issues with roster construction — the pieces not meshing to form a complementary whole — were a major part in UK failing to live up to its preseason expectations in 2025-26.
That’s why the best thing about Monday night’s announcement that Iowa State standout forward Milan Momcilovic is transferring to Kentucky is this: The addition of the floor-spacing sharpshooter appears to give UK a 2026-27 roster in which the parts will form a cohesive unit.
After some earlier UK recruiting misfires this spring, prevailing in a battle for a transfer generally considered one of the top five players available in the 2026 portal cycle is a major optics win for Kentucky coach Mark Pope.
The addition of the 6-foot-8, 225-pound Momcilovic means Pope and UK will deploy one of the most lethal long-range marksmen in men’s college hoops in the coming season.
At Iowa State last season, Momcilovic led NCAA Division I in 3-point field-goal percentage (48.75%). Though only 20th in the country in 3-point attempts (279), Momcilovic was first in made 3-pointers (136).
No Kentucky player has ever made as many 3-pointers in a season as the 136 Momcilovic drained in 2025-26. (The UK record for made 3-pointers in a season is 117 by Jodie Meeks in 2008-09).
When he is dialed in, Momcilovic is capable of Jack Gohlke-like (sorry, Cats fans) rampages from behind the 3-point arc. Eventual 2026 Final Four entrant Arizona saw that up close when Momcilovic hit 8 of 14 treys en route to 28 points in Iowa State’s 82-80 loss to the western Wildcats in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals.
For this three-year college career, Momcilovic has made a robust 42.8% of his trey tries.
“One of the things that’s probably under-appreciated about him is how physical he is,” UK’s Pope said of Momcilovic prior to UK facing Iowa State in the 2026 NCAA Tournament round of 32 in St. Louis. “He owns his line coming off screens — and that’s hard to do in this game, especially with how physical the game is right now. But he’s able to maintain his line coming off screens, to get shoulder-to-shoulder on screens.”
Before Momcilovic scored 20 points on 4-of-9 3-point shooting in Iowa State’s 82-63 demolition of Kentucky, Pope emphasized the forward has more to his offensive game than just long-range bombing.
“He’s got this really brilliant kind of Dirk (Nowitzki) fade (-away jumper) where he likes to play. That’s really hard to get to (as a defender),” the UK coach said.
Yet even with as much fun as it figures to be for Cat fans to watch Momcilovic shoot, it is the impact his presence seems likely to have on the other members of the 2026-27 Wildcat roster that figures to be the forward’s most meaningful contribution to Kentucky.
Pope has said that incoming transfer guards Zoom Diallo (formerly of Washington) and Alex Wilkins (Furman) were each recruited due to their ability to get downhill and create for others.
Defenses having to commit to shadowing Momcilovic behind the 3-point line should open up driving lanes for Diallo and Wilkins.
Having Momcilovic on one wing should create shot opportunities on the opposite side of the floor. That should benefit UK returnee Kam Williams (a 35.9% 3-point shooter last season) as well as James Madison transfer Justin McBride (a 40% 3-point shooter in 2025-26).
Adding Momcilovic should also create room to operate for 7-foot sophomore center Malachi Moreno. The promise as a passer that Moreno, an ex-Great Crossing High School star, flashed this past season — 1.8 assists a game — should reach an even higher level with Momcilovic’s presence opening passing lanes.
We have seen in the offensive performances of Pope’s first two Kentucky teams what it looks like when a team’s parts mesh — and when they don’t.
In 2024-25, a veteran, offensively skilled UK team finished 10th in the Pomeroy Ratings in adjusted offensive efficiency. This past season, a Kentucky roster that lacked shooting and playmaking was 40th in adjusted offensive efficiency.
Two seasons back, Kentucky played 28 games vs. power conference foes plus Gonzaga. Seven times in those 28 contests, UK had 20 or more assists in a game. Only once did the 2024-25 Cats have fewer than 10 assists in a contest.
Last year, UK played 29 games vs. power conference foes plus Gonzaga. Only three times did the Cats have more than 20 assists in a game and were under 10 assists four times.
Even allowing for all his other hoops virtues, the biggest boost Milan Momcilovic will bring to Kentucky is that his presence now gives the Wildcats a roster in which the pieces appear to “fit.”
