Amari Williams highlights improving defense of Kentucky's freshmen trio: 'They've surprised me.'

It’s no secret that Kentucky’s three freshmen needed some time to adjust once they arrived in Lexington.

Head coach Mark Pope has talked about how Trent Noah‘s “head was spinning” early into summer practice. He used a similar phrase to describe Travis Perry around the same time. Then you have Collin Chandler, who is older than most freshmen due to a two-year mission trip that kept him from playing basketball after high school. July was his first real, organized basketball practice since spending two years in Sierra Leone and London. He’s been ramping up his activity ever since and even suffered a minor setback in August because of a tweaked hamstring.

But all of that is news from months ago. Noah, Perry, and Chandler have improved plenty since then — on both sides of the floor.

“I would say the freshmen,” Fifth-year college player Amari Williams said on Tuesday when asked who on the team has improved the most defensively. “They came in at the start and it was a bit tough for them. A lot of older guys. But since they’ve been working in the weight room and their confidence grows and their competitive nature, I feel like you won’t even be able to tell how it was at the start. So just those three, I feel like they’ve surprised me the most so far.”

We know what these freshmen will bring on offense through their shooting abilities once they hit the court. But what they do on defense will decide just how many minutes they earn this season and beyond. That’s especially true with Perry, who is arguably the best shooter on the entire team, but slightly undersized as a (generously listed) 6-foot-1 sharpshooter. Noah and Chandler both check in at 6-foot-5, although neither was considered a lockdown defender in high school.

Williams knows a thing or two about excelling on defense, too. After all, he was a three-time CAA Defensive Player of the Year at Drexel, the only player in conference history to win the award three times. For the freshmen to surprise him is no small note and it’s a testament to their nonstop work ethics, another aspect of their games we’ve heard plenty of since the summer.

“All of them just work hard,” Williams added. “We had Trent and Travis, you seen them in the 3-Point Shootout. They’re shooting every day. Collin, he had an injury in the offseason, but that didn’t stop him from being in the gym, being in the weight room, to work on his body. I just feel like he’s putting in all the work and it’s gonna show off.”

During last week’s Blue-White Scrimmage, we were treated to a small taste of what the three rookies will bring to Pope’s first Kentucky roster. Chandler shined with 19 points on 7-10 shooting while Perry and Noah combined for nine points. If they can show some juice on defense, Pope will have no choice but to throw them some extra minutes.

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