Amari Williams sticks with Kentucky following late-night meeting with Mark Pope

Worried about any last-second cold feet ahead of the portal deadline for one of Kentucky’s key transfer signings? Don’t be. Mark Pope’s got it handled.

There was speculation in the hours leading up to the 11:59 p.m. ET cutoff for players entering the portal that former Drexel forward Amari Williams would back out to explore his options once again — or that his representation was putting out feelers on his behalf. It came on the heels of Kentucky signing Oklahoma State’s Brandon Garrison amid talks with Utah State’s Great Osobor, a friend of Williams who was in Lexington for a visit at the time of the commitment.

Doesn’t matter how it unfolded, Pope wanted to get out in front of it and lock him down before potential second thoughts could arise. He flew to Philadelphia, as first reported by Kyle Tucker of The Athletic and since confirmed by KSR, to meet with the prized forward in person.

There, he got Williams to double down on his pledge to Kentucky through the portal deadline at midnight, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony.

He’s officially a Cat, just as planned.

Source: Following a late-night meeting with head coach Mark Pope, Amari Williams will remain committed to playing for Kentucky next season. pic.twitter.com/tJFKNv8pOr

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) May 2, 2024

“At times, Amari Williams looks like a man among boys on the court,” Pope said of his first big-time addition at Kentucky. “He is a three-time conference defensive player of the year, which is incredibly hard to do. He is bringing a big presence to the game and is going to serve as a rim-protector and rebounder. Amari is a gifted defensive player who can switch onto any position, one through five, which will add security to how everybody else feels on the court.

“Offensively, he is dangerous at the rim and he’s one of the special passers in college basketball. Amari can make all of the reads, all of the passes, all of the plays and he fits into exactly what we want to do on either end of the court.”

Williams averaged 12.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.8 blocks per game in 22.9 minutes of action as a senior at Drexel. He started all 32 games en route to his third consecutive conference defensive player of the year honor.

And he’ll be closing out his career at Kentucky — for good.