Ansley Almonor was an unknown coming into the season for the Kentucky Wildcats after transferring in from Fairleigh Dickinson.
A vital player for the Knights’ over the last three seasons, including a crucial part in their historic upset win over Purdue in a 16 vs. 1 battle in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, Almonor has been on the big stage before.
His journey, however, finally led him to Tuesday night in Atlanta, where Kentucky will battle the No. 6 Duke Blue Devils on the stage of the Champions Classic.
On Monday, Almonor met with the media to preview the massive matchup of blue bloods. He detailed his journey from Spring Valley, New York — where Almonor had two posters hanging in his childhood bedroom: One for Kentucky, and one for Duke.
“So every day I woke up, I would see it, because that’s where I wanted to be. That’s where I wanted to end up, because I knew, once you end up there, you’re closer to your goal, which is the NBA,” said Almonor in an interview with Ben Roberts of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Following a monstrous junior season for Fairleigh Dickinson, where he averaged 16.4 PPG on 39.4% shooting from behind the arc, Almonor entered the transfer portal, and Mark Pope and Kentucky came calling — exactly what the Wildcats needed — a stretch 4 with big-game experience that can fire away from 3-point land.
So far in two games for Kentucky, Almonor is averaging 10 points and 3.0 rebounds on 53.3% shooting from the field.
The Wildcats will need him to step up on the big stage to pull off what would be a monumental win.