It didn't happen immediately, but Andrew Carr is feeling 'super comfortable' in Pope's offense

Andrew Carr leads Kentucky in minutes played this season (119), but he ranks just sixth in scoring at 9.4 points per game. His best basketball is still yet to come as he continues to adapt to his new surroundings.

The Wake Forest transfer has shown plenty of flashes through the Wildcats’ first five games though. He was among the primary reasons Kentucky upset Duke down the stretch in the Champions Classic, leading to SEC Player of the Week honors. The 6-foot-11 forward hits the shots he’s supposed to and doesn’t do anything that hurts his team. Granted, his scoring consistency hasn’t been all that steady, but UK wins when he’s on the floor. According to EvanMiya, Carr’s season-long plus/minus of +99 is second on the team only to Amari Williams (+113).

Kentucky head coach Mark Pope said in the offseason that he was born to coach Carr. As a stretch forward who can make plays and impact the outcome without scoring, Carr meets the criteria of an ideal player for Pope’s system. Despite playing his lowest amount of minutes as a college player, Carr is averaging a career-high 2.4 assists per outing with a career-low 1.0 turnovers. He rarely fouls and is shooting at a career-best clip from two-point and three-point range.

But adjusting to Pope’s style at Kentucky — after two seasons at Delaware followed by two more seasons at Wake Forest — hasn’t always been easy. The scoring numbers this season are some proof of that. He averaged 13.5 points in 32.5 minutes per game last season at Wake Forest. But he was more of a focal point with the Demon Deacons, whereas, at Kentucky, there is no true focal point.

Carr understandably needed time to adjust when he initially arrived in Lexington for offseason practice, and he needed time again to adjust once the regular season ramped up.

“It definitely took me at least a little bit to feel super comfortable in the offense a little bit,” Carr said Monday. “It’s kinda like the same thing for me in the summer when I first got here, I kinda felt the same kind of development for me. I’m a super analytical kind of thinking of the game type of player. That’s a positive and a negative at times for me. Sometimes I feel like I find myself overthinking things a little bit within the offense.

“But being able to go out there and play free-flowing these last couple of games and be able to make an impact on the team in any way that I can, I think it’s been awesome. I’m super comfortable at this time and I feel like we’ve really been able to play really well so far this year.”

Carr scored in double-figures through Kentucky’s first three games but managed just eight total points in the next two outings against Lipscomb and Jackson State. It’s not all about putting the ball in the basket though. Kentucky has plenty of guys who can soak up that responsibility. Carr pulled in five rebounds and one assist against Lipscomb. He was even more impactful against Jackson State with six rebounds, five assists, and two steals. He was a combined +50 in those two games without a single turnover.

Just wait until he finds his groove shooting the ball.

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