Ansley Almonor embraced being moved back to the bench: 'He just doesn't skip a beat.'

Ansley Almonor doesn’t seem to care when or for how long he plays, so long as he’s finding ways to make a positive impact.

That mentality has allowed him to strive regardless of whether he’s coming off the bench or filling out the starting five. Almonor was a starter in Kentucky’s last seven games while Andrew Carr continued to recover from his back injury. Carr was finally bumped back into the first five during Wednesday’s 82-61 win over Vanderbilt in Rupp Arena, shifting Almonor back to the bench.

And yet, Almonor’s final stat line doesn’t look much different than it has the last several weeks. The senior wing chipped in nine points on 3-5 shooting from deep along with two assists and a rebound in 10 minutes. It was actually his fewest amount of playing time since Dec. 21. It didn’t appear to bother him though.

“I also want to give some major, major kudos to Ansley Almonor,” Head coach Mark Pope said postgame.
“I talked to Ansley yesterday, told him that I was going to start (Andrew), and Ansley, he’s been playing incredible basketball. He’s one of the most lethal shooters in our league, and he’s also been fighting like crazy and he was like, coach, let’s go, man.”

“Ansley comes off the bench and is 3-5 (from three-point range). He just doesn’t skip a beat. It’s a really beautiful thing to have guys on your team like Ansley Almonor that just are doing whatever it takes and playing elite-level basketball again like he did tonight.”

Almonor’s brilliance as a knockdown three-point shooter began to show itself once the SEC schedule rolled around. He averaged just 5.2 points (34.4 3PT%) in 12 minutes per outing across 13 nonconference outings. Only three times did he reach double-figures in that span. But in 13 league games? Almonor has boosted those figures to 7.6 points (52.2 3PT%) in 19 minutes per outing. Seven of those games saw him hit double-digits.

“Ansley is a winner,” Fifth-year center Amari Williams said. “He got moved to the bench because Andrew’s back to 100 percent, and he didn’t waiver, he still did all the little things, crashing offensive glass, being shot-ready. Ansley is a winner, he’s a warrior. He’s done all the things he’s been doing ever since the start of the SEC.”

Another added bonus of Almonor’s move back to coming off the pine? A much-needed performance from Carr, who chipped in 11 points (5-8 FG) against Vanderbilt in 21 minutes, his most points since Jan. 21. If Kentucky can have both Almonor and Carr cooking moving forward, it makes the Wildcats that much more dangerous (and expendable).