Next Cats player page: Kentucky basketball transfer CJ Fredrick

Ben Roberts
·3 min read

Kentucky fans love knockdown shooters and former high school stars from inside the state, and the Wildcats’ program got both with the offseason addition of CJ Fredrick.

The former state champion and Sweet Sixteen MVP with Covington Catholic decided to transfer from Iowa to Kentucky following two seasons as a starter with the Hawkeyes, and he should be an instant-impact perimeter player in Lexington for the 2021-22 season.

CJ FREDRICK

  • Shooting guard | Cincinnati

  • 6-foot-3, 195 pounds

  • Previously played for Iowa

  • Averaged 8.8 ppg, shot 46.6% on 3s at Iowa

  • 2018 Sweet Sixteen MVP at Covington Catholic

Fredrick was not recruited by UK coming out of high school, but his prowess as a three-point shooter and prolific scorer was evident even then.

The Cincinnati native made 49 percent of his three-point shots as a senior for Covington Catholic, scoring 32 points in the state title game and leading the school to a Sweet Sixteen championship in 2018.

He sat out his first year at Iowa as a redshirt and emerged as an immediate contributor after that, starting all 52 of the games he appeared in over the next two seasons.

Fredrick made 83 of 178 three-point attempts in those 52 games — a 46.6 percent clip — and showed a great ability to protect the basketball while making plays. He had 121 assists to 42 turnovers — a 2.88 assist/turnover ratio — in his two college seasons combined, with 52 assists and just 10 turnovers this past season.

Kentucky has added several talented guards during the offseason, but Fredrick’s shooting ability and all-around approach should make him a key player for the Wildcats in the 2021-22 season, with John Calipari also praising his ability as a perimeter defender.

Fredrick will have three years of college eligibility remaining, starting with the 2021-22 season.

Quotable

“I am very excited for this new opportunity in my basketball career. I really appreciate the confidence Coach Cal has in me. I am looking forward to going to work and developing as a player with Coach Cal, the staff and my future teammates. ... I cannot wait to get back on the floor at Rupp Arena to help this team win and make Big Blue Nation proud.” — CJ Fredrick

What Calipari says

“CJ Fredrick is an established college player from a terrific program who has competed at the highest level and has made big shots and big plays. As we all know, CJ is a terrific shooter, but what stuck out to make on tape is he takes care of the ball – he has an excellent assist-to-turnover ratio – and he can hold his own defensively. He guarded the best guard on the other team in just about everything I have seen. What I love about CJ is his approach in all of this. In every conversation I have had with him, he has a great plan of how he wants to improve and where he needs to take his game to get better. He wants to be challenged, he wants to be coached and he embraces competition.”