by LARRY VAUGHT
“Malachi had a great week. I loved that he didn’t go outside of his game. He didn’t try to score 20 points, block every shot. He would come in the scrimmage and block a couple of shots, get two or three rebounds,” Dennis Johnson said. “I think we (Kentucky) will be able to run next season and will be able to use him as a point center if needed.”
Former Wildcat Cameron Mills, UK coach Mark Pope’s teammate on the 1996 national championship team, watched Moreno lead Great Crossing to the state high school championship.
“I know he improved all of his game from last year to this season but the one thing he intentionally worked on was his outside shooting and you could tell that,” Mills said. “The most impressive thing I saw during the tournament was in the first game in the first quarter when he had a wide open 3-pointer. It wasn’t that he made it, which was wonderful, but he didn’t second guess himself before he shot it.
“That the evidence that he put in the work and knew if he was open, he was shooting. That’s one way he can fit in at Kentucky next year. But for a big guy he also has great footwork, great hands, plays smart.”
Mills knows there will be “growing pains” as freshmen for both Moreno and Johnson.
“But I think both of them are going to fit in very well and I think they both have a chance to be special players,” Mills said.
