Mark Pope on Amari Williams' triple-double: "I wasted that performance tonight"

Amari Williams made Kentucky Basketball history tonight, becoming just the fourth Wildcat to record a triple-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. The moment was a bit lost in the 98-84 loss to Ole Miss, Kentucky’s fourth in the last five games. Afterward, a downtrodden Williams said he’d rather have the victory any day.

“It’s a good achievement to have. I would have traded it for a win, for sure. That’s all I’ve got to say about it, really. Just wish we went out there and played better defense as a team, individually too. That’s the only thing I take away from that.”

Williams joins Chris Mills (1988), De’Aaron Fox (2016), and Isaiah Briscoe (2016) in the Kentucky Basketball history books. Wildly, Briscoe’s triple-double also came against the Rebels in Oxford, a 99-76 Kentucky win. Williams, Mark Pope, and Otega Oweh were all clearly affected by tonight’s loss, but Pope did take a moment to praise his seven-footer, who has taken on the role of point guard on occasion with Lamont Butler out with a shoulder injury.

“They’re both true,” Pope said when asked about being upset about the loss but proud of Williams. “In challenging times, both things are still true. And the truth is that Amari is — we’re asking to do so much, and he’s raising up and doing it. You know, he has a triple-double in less than 26 minutes. That’s remarkable, especially as a player his size, to be a ten-assist guy on the road in a game where we desperately need him to be a playmaker for us right now, it’s real true.

“He’s playing amazing basketball, and he’s really stretching, and he’s really growing, and I’m super proud of it, and we also have a ton of frustration. Both those things are actually true at the same time.”

During his postgame conversation with Tom Leach, Pope went further, saying that he felt he “wasted” Williams’ historic performance.

“It’s incredibly impressive. And just like all the rest of our guys, we’re asking Amari to do things that are way more expansive than what we had originally planned, but he certainly is doing everything he can to ring the bell. In the assists and the rebounds especially, he was really, really really effective tonight. And there’s also parts of his game, just like everybody else’s game, that were lacking for us tonight but I’m really proud of him, because he’s trying to stretch, and he’s doing a great job. And you just hate to waste performances like that, and that’s on me. Like, I wasted that performance tonight.”

A lot of things went wrong for Kentucky tonight — and over the last few weeks. Although not perfect, Amari Williams hasn’t been one of them.

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