College basketball hasn’t seen someone of Williams’s stature achieve this feat in two decades.
Despite falling 98-84 at No. 25 Ole Miss on Tuesday night, there was a bright spot for the No. 14 Kentucky Wildcats.
Graduate center Amari Williams became the first seven-footer in Division I men’s college basketball in the last 20 years to post a triple-double, according to UK’s Corey Price.
Williams had 12 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists on Tuesday night, achieving a triple-double in 26 minutes.
.@KentuckyMBB’s @amxriwillixms is the only 7-footer in Division I men’s basketball over the last 20 years to have a points-rebounds-assists triple-double
— Corey Price (@coreyp08) February 5, 2025
Triple-double for @amxriwillixms.
12 PTS | 10 REB | 10 AST pic.twitter.com/4uZnGHOowr
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) February 5, 2025
Achieving a triple-double is hard to do. Doing it in a 14-point loss is even harder and hard to fathom in general.
Williams came to Lexington this offseason after a standout four years at Drexel. The three-time Colonial Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Year and three-time CAA leader in blocks, Williams has really asserted himself as one of Kentucky’s go-to players over the recent few games. He’s scored in double figures in four of Kentucky’s last five games, pulled down 11+ rebounds in four of the Wildcats’ previous five games and is now shooting 14/20 from the field in Kentucky’s previous two games.
The fact that Williams has been a Conference Defensive Player of the Year three times provides confidence that he can help the Wildcats improve defensively in their final nine games of the regular season. Kentucky did out-rebound Ole Miss 37-29 on Tuesday night.
On a night where it seemed like, at least for the first half, nothing went right for Kentucky and everything went right for Ole Miss, Williams achieved something not seen from someone his size in 20 years in Division I Men’s College Basketball. Williams will be a key player on the Wildcats for the rest of the season.