CJ Fredrick announces he will return to Kentucky in 2022-23

Kentucky guard CJ Fredrick is set to return for his second year in Lexington and fifth year in college.

After missing the entire 2021-22 season due to injury, the 6-foot-3 sharpshooter announced his return to Kentucky on social media, coming back for what will be his redshirt senior season.

“Back at it, BBN,” Fredrick announced, adding a short clip of a recent workout in Memorial Coliseum, confidently knocking down some 3-point jumpers.

Back at it, BBN… 22-23🔜😈 pic.twitter.com/N6rJG4t1oG

— Cj Fredrick (@cj_fredrick) April 16, 2022

Fredrick sat out the 2021-22 season after undergoing surgery in mid-November to repair a left hamstring injury. Transferring from Iowa, the sharpshooter entered the year as the nation’s leading returner in career 3-point field-goal percentage (46.6%) with a minimum of 150 attempts. He briefly got to show off his shooting abilities at Rupp Arena, winning the 2021 Big Blue Madness 3-point contest.

Redshirting his first year in Iowa City, and then again this past season, Fredrick still has two years of eligibility remaining in Lexington. Multiple sources tell KSR that the current plan for the 3-point specialist is to use both years, keeping him at Kentucky through the 2023-24 season.

The native of Cincinnati, OH averaged a combined 8.8 points, 2.3 assists and 1.5 rebounds per contest in two years at Iowa. He shot 47.9% from the field and 46.6% from three in that span, taking an average of 3.4 3-pointers per game as a Hawkeye.

Fredrick hit the transfer portal back on April 19 of last year and decided to commit to Kentucky on May 5.

“I am very excited for this new opportunity in my basketball career,” Fredrick said at the time. “I really appreciate the confidence Coach Cal has in me. I am looking forward to going to work and developing as a player with Coach Cal, the staff and my future teammates.”

“CJ Fredrick is an established college player from a terrific program who has competed at the highest level and has made big shots and big plays,” Kentucky head coach John Calipari said. “As we all know, CJ is a terrific shooter, but what stuck out to make on tape is he takes care of the ball – he has an excellent assist-to-turnover ratio – and he can hold his own defensively. He guarded the best guard on the other team in just about everything I have seen.
 
“What I love about CJ is his approach in all of this. In every conversation I have had with him, he has a great plan of how he wants to improve and where he needs to take his game to get better. He wants to be challenged, he wants to be coached and he embraces competition.”

The former Covington Catholic (KY) star was named the 2018 Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year and led his school to a Kentucky state championship and a 35-4 record. Fredrick averaged 23.1 points per game in his senior season and shot 48.4% from 3-point range. The march to the state title was done in Rupp Arena, where Fredrick averaged 27.8 points with two 32-point games while shooting 63.6% from the floor during the Sweet Sixteen run. He was named MVP of the Sweet Sixteen.

Now the sharpshooting guard is back for another year in Lexington.