A high school growth spurt turned Andrew Carr into a college basketball player

Andrew Carr figures to play a significant role for Kentucky men’s basketball this season. Mark Pope has high expectations (remember when he said Carr could fill a “Lauri Markkanen type role”?) for the 6-foot-11 Wake Forest transfer, who is already penciled into the starting five as the four-man.

After spending his first two college seasons at Delaware and the next two at Wake Forest, Carr will play his fifth and final season in Lexington. With 112 career starts under his belt and a career three-point shooting mark of 34.4 percent, he’ll bring plenty of experience and floor-stretching abilities to the Wildcats in 2024-25.

But what else should we know about Carr? He recently sat down with the UK video team to pull back the curtain a bit. In the video below, Carr talks about how his dad introduced him to basketball at a young age (his dad and uncle both played college ball at Delaware) and his older brother helped develop him. But it wasn’t until a major growth spurt early into his high school life that he realized basketball could be a way to make a living.

“For a long time in my life, I didn’t even know that I was going to be playing college basketball, to be totally honest,” Carr, who grew seven inches from his freshman to high school season, said. “It just makes moments like these even more special.”

Carr adds that he didn’t even start playing AAU basketball until his sophomore season. He also talked about his overall excitement surrounding Pope’s first season, which includes an entirely new roster and coaching staff. He’s eager to play in front of the Big Blue Nation and get this new era of Kentucky men’s basketball rolling.

“I know my best basketball is in front of me,” he added.

Get to know @apc_andrew pic.twitter.com/oSKcKHpcKg

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) September 18, 2024