Malachi Moreno is adding pieces of Amari Williams' game to his own

Mark Pope loves a passing big man. He brought that love to Kentucky during his first season as the Wildcats head coach in the form of Drexel transfer Amari Williams.

After four seasons with the Dragons, where he was named the CAA Defensive Player of the Year and an All-CAA performer in his final two seasons, Williams made the jump to the SEC. Known for his defensive acumen as a seven-footer, the native of England transformed his game at Kentucky, quickly developing into one of the best passing big men in all of college basketball.

At Kentucky, he averaged 10.9 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.2 blocks per outing in 2024-25 before going on to be a second-round pick in the NBA Draft. That’s translated to the G League so far, where he’s putting up monster numbers on a nightly basis for the Maine Celtics.

With Williams going pro, Pope replaced him in 2025-26 with another seven-footer, freshman Malachi Moreno. While the two aren’t exactly identical prospects, Williams and Moreno do share a similar quality, the one that Pope searches for in his centers. Moreno, especially as of late, has established himself as a high-level passing big man.

Now that he’s a full-time starter, Moreno has gradually improved his playmaking skills since the beginning of the season. That trait has been on full display during SEC play. The Georgetown product is averaging 8.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 2.2 blocks in 22.3 minutes per game against six conference opponents this season. He’s registered at least two dimes in four of those games, including a pair of six-assist showings against Mississippi State and Texas — both wins for the Wildcats.

Moreno has always been a good rebounder and shot-blocker, but his budding confidence as a passer now has him playing his best basketball yet.

“It’s more so just finding my fit,” Moreno said Friday when asked what’s clicking for him lately. “I think just being able to make plays for my teammates has really just been the biggest impact for me, and I think once I’ve seen that I can do that, it kind of just made the game a lot easier for me. 

“I’m always connecting passes with my teammates, making sure they’re getting open buckets, and I think me being seven foot, a lot of people don’t expect that of my game. I almost took that as disrespect because I can pass. I like seeing my teammates eat. The more they eat, the more assists I get.”

Moreno has always been a capable passer, dating back to his time at Great Crossing High School, where he was named Mr. Basketball and won a state title as a senior before coming to UK. But it took some time for him to find his footing as a playmaker once he did take the floor as a college player. He had some help along the way from the man who helped pave the way, though.

“Amari’s been a big help,” Moreno said. “He’s reached out a couple of times just talking me through things, just asking me how I’m enjoying it, things like that. He was one of the best passing big men in the draft, one of the best passing big men in college last year, if not the best passer, so I kind of just tried to take that from his game, add it to my own. Because if you look in the NBA now, a lot of centers are big-time passers, so if I can kind of get that down, I can take my game to a new level.”

Per CBB Analytics, Williams ranked in the 99th percentile among all frontcourt players last season in assist percentage (which estimates the percentage of a team’s field goals a player assisted while on the floor) at 24.7 percent. Through six SEC games, Moreno isn’t far off from that number with a 24 percent assist rate against SEC foes, which ranks in the 98th percentile among all frontcourt players.

Moreno has been critical to Kentucky’s current four-game winning streak — and he’s only getting better.

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