Malachi Moreno entered the offseason with a clear understanding of what Kentucky needed from him.
After returning to Lexington instead of remaining in the NBA Draft, the sophomore center was expected to take on a much larger role for Mark Pope and the Wildcats. But getting ready for that role wasn’t always easy.
Pope recently revealed that he was frustrated with Moreno during the first four weeks of summer workouts.
“Malachi knows this: The first four weeks of the summer, I was really frustrated with Malachi,” Pope said during Kentucky’s preseason media day. “I felt like we were stuck in molasses, and then there was a little bit of stubbornness, and we were kind of fighting with it.”
Rather than allowing the difficult start to define his summer, Moreno eventually responded.
The former Great Crossing standout admitted that he initially wasn’t listening to Pope the way he needed to.
“I was just being stubborn,” Moreno said. “(Pope) tried to give it to me in an easy way, and I wasn’t hearing it the right way.”
A conversation involving Moreno, Pope and Moreno’s brother became a major turning point.
“I had a meeting with him and my brother, and then that kind of just gave me a big turning point,” Moreno said. “And ever since then, I’ve never looked back.”
Pope says the transformation since then has been dramatic.
The Kentucky coach described Moreno’s progress during the second half of the summer and throughout fall workouts as “almost unrecognizable,” particularly because of the additional skill set he has brought to the court.
Moreno knows that physical improvement is also necessary.
As a freshman, he averaged 7.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, but the SEC presented challenges that he wants to eliminate this season.
“Last year, you could see in games, I was getting thrown around and getting tired super easily,” Moreno said. “I can’t be that way anymore. I can’t be getting tired in two-minute spurts. I can’t be getting thrown around in the paint.”
Kentucky’s practices have given him plenty of opportunities to address those weaknesses.
Moreno has been competing against 7-foot, 270-pound Washington transfer Franck Kepnang, creating a physical matchup that should help prepare him for the conference’s bigger centers.
Kepnang has been impressed by what he has seen.
“Malachi is a beast,” Kepnang said. “He’s been on the glass. He’s been an anchor for the team. He’s been hitting, reading the right read every single time. He’s sprinting the floor. He’s blocking shots.”
Pope has also highlighted improvements in several areas of Moreno’s game, including his interior scoring, quickness and rim protection.
His passing has taken a noticeable step forward as well. During a recent scrimmage, Pope said Moreno recorded three assists in the first four minutes, showing that he can become more than just a scoring option around the basket.
The Wildcats also added Iowa State transfer Milan Momcilovic, giving the roster another potential offensive focal point and allowing Kentucky to spread some of the responsibility around.
Still, Pope expects Moreno to be one of the team’s leaders.
“He’s taken on a leadership role where our guys see him as a leader and a veteran on this team,” Pope said. “So he’s grown in a lot of ways, and he is a really important piece of this team in our success.”
Moreno’s summer started with frustration and stubbornness, but his response appears to have changed the trajectory of his offseason.
Now, Kentucky is waiting to see whether the progress Pope and Moreno have described carries over when the games begin. If it does, the sophomore center could look very different from the player Big Blue Nation saw during his freshman season.
