A meeting with Mark Pope brought Amari Williams' playmaking back to life

To start the season, Amari Williams wasn’t as protective with the ball as Mark Pope would have liked.

The seven-footer was turning the ball over far too often. He transferred to Kentucky from Drexel with a career mark of 2.1 turnovers per game. Through his first eight games as a Wildcat, that number was up to 2.9 turnovers per contest. Williams had 20 assists with 23 turnovers — not a good stat for someone who operates as the hub of Pope’s offense.

But something changed after Kentucky’s loss to Clemson back on Dec. 3. Williams finished with two assists and four turnovers in that defeat on the road. It was not his best overall performance or even close to it. Since then? Williams has 14 assists to just three turnovers in the six games following the Clemson game. He posted five assists and one miscue in Kentucky’s most recent win over Florida.

“Can I brag about Amari Williams for a minute?” Pope asked after UK beat Florida at home over the weekend. “He’s 6-7 from the field. Six games ago, we kinda had one of those come-to meetings. We’re like, okay we gotta fix some things, right? Amari was, at the time he had just fallen under the water, assist-to-turnover wise. So he was less assists than turnovers. And for guys on our team, bigs that handle the ball so much and have to be decision-makers, that was a real problem.

“Since then, the last six games, Amari’s been — before this game he was a 4.5 assist to every turnover. That’s how much he changed it. Tonight he was a five assist to one turnover in this high-level game. 6-7 from the field. Eight rebounds. He was spectacular today. I’m so proud of him.”

Williams’ playstyle has changed since the season began. Early on, he was more susceptible to initiating the offense and over-dribbling into traffic. He would try to squeeze tough passes into tight windows that often resulted in miscommunication with the recipient. That version of Williams has nearly vanished. Lately, he’s done a much better job of working within the flow of the offense and not trying to make something out of nothing.

“Just about protecting the ball,” Williams said of what he’s changed. “I feel like I’m a risky passer at times, that’s what was happening in the past, is just knowing when to throw the ball and when not to. Just being more cautious about that, I feel like that’s helped my assist-to-turnover ratio a lot.”

Williams is still not without his faults. His rebounding numbers have actually dipped over the last several games as he goes up against more physical and stronger bigs. Spurts of energy seem to come in waves. But he’s been a much more efficient player on offense as of late, and that’s key to Kentucky’s success. Williams finished with 15 points (6-7 FG; 3-4 FT), eight rebounds, and five assists against Florida.

“Five games ago Amari really, really dug into this idea that I’m not turning the ball over anymore,” Pope added.

In the win over Florida, Kentucky finished with just six turnovers as a team with 25 assists. The ‘Cats shot 14-29 from deep. A product of firing off (and making) so many three-pointers is having so many possessions that end in shots instead of turnovers. UK’s frontcourt of Williams, Andrew Carr, and Brandon Garrison combined for 13 assists and two turnovers. When the bigs are passing well and protecting the ball, Kentucky’s offense is tough to slow down.

“We won’t be 14 for 29 (from three) every night, but if we can protect the ball like this against the number one half-court defensive team in the country (Florida) and we can share the ball like we did with 25 assists,” Pope said. “It will bode well for our offense every single night.”

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