Ansley Almonor is content with playing his role: 'It's hard to find guys like that.'

Ansley Almonor was an all-conference player his previous two seasons at Fairleigh Dickinson, but he sacrificed individual glory for a chance to be a part of something special. Through seven games at his new home in Lexington, he’s played his off-the-bench role to near perfection as Kentucky is off to a 7-0 start in his senior college season.

During the Wildcats’ 105-76 win over Georgia State on Friday night, Almonor was quietly excellent once again. The 6-foot-7 wing finished with a season-high 12 points — one of seven Kentucky players to finish in double-figures — on 4-5 shooting (2-3 from deep; 2-2 from the free throw line) to go along with four rebounds and one steal in just 16 minutes.

It was yet another steady performance from a consistent performer.

“You guys love Ansley?” Head coach Mark Pope asked the thousands of Kentucky fans who stuck around for his postgame radio show. “I love him, man.”

Almonor has done everything Pope could have expected, and then some. Despite effectively acting as the team’s ninth-man, Friday night was his third outing in double-digits. He also finished with nine points against Bucknell. Outside of the win over Western Kentucky earlier this week, Almonor has scored and played at least 10 minutes in every game this season.

Ansley Almonor 👌👌👌
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— KSR (@KSRonX) November 30, 2024

His season-long averages aren’t flashy, but his numbers always impact the game. He’s become the perfect spot-up shooter off the bench. Almonor is shooting 55 percent from the field, 43 percent from deep, and 89 percent from the stripe. Back in the offseason, he could have gone to a smaller school through the transfer portal and put up more impressive stats in his final college run, but he elected to take a backseat with dreams of winning big.

“Let me tell you something about Ansley Almonor,” Pope continued. “Ansley was one of the last guys to sign on our roster. He’s a multi-year all-conference player in his former conference. Probably the best player on this team for the last couple of years. He knew that he was gonna come here and he was gonna come off the bench behind Andrew Carr…

“And so Ansley was like ‘I don’t care. I want to come to Kentucky. I want to put on this jersey. And I want to be the best guy coming off the bench, the best guy in the locker room, come bang shots when we need them. Come make toughness plays.’ It’s hard to find guys like that, that want to lose themself in the team. He’s so fun to coach.”

Almonor could easily pout over his limited minutes or shots. He was taking 12.8 shots per game as a junior last season. He’s at just 4.3 per game so far in 2024-25. But by coming to Kentucky, he decided to play for something greater than himself. Almonor might not be taking most of the shots, but he’s becoming a fan favorite throughout the Big Blue Nation for his willingness to fill a role that a lot of successful veteran players simply wouldn’t want.

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