Mark Pope brought Ansley Almonor to help Kentucky win games -- and that's exactly what he did

Ansley Almonor was one of the final pieces added to Kentucky’s 2024-25 roster as part of Mark Pope‘s debut team with the Wildcats. Almonor knew what he was getting into by making the move from Fairleigh Dickinson to Lexington, too. He was always going to be a rotational bench player, but he didn’t come to Kentucky so he could score 20 points every night.

He came to Kentucky so he could make the difference in a handful of wins — and that’s exactly what he did against Mississippi State on Saturday night in Starkville.

“Coach (Pope) has been telling everybody that I was gonna be able to come here and win us a couple of games,” Almonor said on the UK postgame radio show after the 95-90 win. “He didn’t know when it was gonna happen but I was gonna be able to do that.”

There’s a very high chance that Kentucky heads home with a second straight SEC loss if not for Almonor. His trio of three-pointers during a two-minute span deep into the second half essentially saved the ‘Cats. His first triple gave UK the lead, the second made it a four-point game, and the third pushed his team ahead by seven. Kentucky held onto the lead the rest of the way.

“I’ve said this so many times: Ansley Almonor is a perfect fit for how we play, and he’s going to win us some games and I love when players make coaches look really smart because we’re not, but sometimes they make us look smart,” Pope told KSR postgame. “Ansley did that, and what a brilliant performance from him.”

Ansley Almonor after Kentucky’s win at Mississippi State 😂 pic.twitter.com/KZzNSFCI7J

— KSR (@KSRonX) January 12, 2025

Almonor finished with 11 points in the win, tied for his second-best scoring game of the season. But it’s the first time he’s reached double-digits against a high-major opponent. Before Saturday, he hadn’t scored more than six points since late November. The 6-foot-7 senior wing, who is a career 38 percent outside shooter, was just 3-16 from deep over his previous eight games.

But a pregame conversation with associate head coach Alvin Brooks III helped put Almonor into a helpful mindset. Brooks told Almonor he was shooting too much during warmups, advising him to trim that down a bit. Almonor took the advice. “Today was probably the least I shot pregame,” he said. The jumper looked extra fresh against the Bulldogs.

It wasn’t just the burst of no-hesitation three-pointers that allowed him to make an impact though. He battled around the rim and fought as best he could against the Mississippi State frontcourt. Almonor was a +10 in his 19 minutes, the second-best plus/minus on the team. He knew that Andrew Carr‘s back injury (which limited him to 21 minutes) was going to put him on the court more, so he made sure to take full advantage.

“Ansley Almonor is really special,” Pope said. “Because he came here understanding what he was walking into, right? He came here understanding that Andrew Carr was sitting there and the roster was almost done. And he was like I’m coming here anyway, man. I want to come and I’m gonna find ways to win games.”

It takes a certain level of toughness and confidence to go from averaging around 12 minutes per game to being thrust into a primetime matchup. These are the moments players and coaches work so hard for; the opportunity to silence a sold-out crowd in a Top 15 intraconference matchup. To do it at a place like Kentucky is something most can only dream of. Almonor just lived it.

“I don’t care if you’re 100 times over a billionaire,” Pope said. “You can never ever buy what Ansley Almonor just did and what he just experienced. Never.”

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