Malachi Moreno, Kam Williams provide a foundation for Mark Pope to build upon

The transfer portal has already picked apart Kentucky’s 2025-26 roster. Five Wildcats (well, six if you count Denzel Aberdeen) from last season have entered or plan to enter their names into the portal during the two-week window, which opened on Tuesday. Others could potentially join. Head coach Mark Pope is looking at a major roster rebuild going into a critical third season.

But Pope received positive news this week that should provide him with a solid foundation to build around moving forward this offseason.

Malachi Moreno and Kam Williams have announced their intentions to return for a second season in Lexington. Those are two young and talented players coming off promising seasons who can make an impact on both sides of the hardwood in the 2026-27 season. Moreno is also going to test the NBA Draft waters, but barring a massive leap in his stock, he’ll be back wearing the blue and white this fall.

Losing so many pieces from last season’s team was probably in Kentucky’s best interest. Retention is important in this new era of college athletics, but it makes little sense to try to run back most of a roster that went 22-14 last season while failing to meet lofty preseason expectations. If Pope was going to bring back players from last season, Moreno and Williams would have been among the top choices for most fans — and probably for Pope himself.

Collin Chandler is the third Wildcat most would like to see come back for another season. And while reports indicate he’s trending toward a return to Kentucky, there has been no official announcement. Trent Noah and Braydon Hawthorne are also possible return candidates, but Moreno and Williams at least give Pope something to work with as he enters into conversations with prospective Wildcats.

With Moreno, he’s coming off an All-SEC Freshman campaign where he exceeded nearly every expectation placed upon him as a rookie. It only took the seven-footer five games before he surpassed Brandon Garrison on the depth chart and took over as Kentucky’s starting center. Moreno went on to average 7.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.5 steals in 22.6 minutes per outing on 58.2 percent shooting.

A disappointing end (for his season-long standards, at least) to Moreno’s freshman year marred some of the hype around him, but it’s easy to forget how rare it is for someone his size to possess so much skill. The Georgetown native has been in NBA Draft conversations dating back to December. His best basketball is still ahead of him. He’s one good summer in the weight room from taking a huge leap. Pope wants to feature Moreno in the offense more, too. All of that should lead to a breakout sophomore season if he elects to come back. Moreno is a big man that top point guards in the portal will want to play alongside.

As for Williams, he was finding his groove last season right before going down with his broken foot. It certainly took the 6-foot-8 wing some time to establish a rhythm within the flow of the game at Kentucky, but once the shots started to fall, the vision became clear. Williams showed plenty of flashes as a switchable defender. His best basketball happened when he mixed outside shooting with getting downhill. He is not someone who commands the ball in his hands to make an impact.

While Williams might not be a starter next season, he’s the type of two-way threat on the wing that teams need to be successful. There is an obvious role for him next season, it’s just not clear right now if that will be in the form of 10-15 minutes or 20-25 minutes per game. Regardless, his low usage rate shouldn’t scare off potential portal targets Pope is looking at. There are worse ways to start a roster rebuild than by getting the ball rolling with Moreno and Williams.

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