Reece Potter spent last season on the Kentucky men’s basketball roster without logging a single second on the floor. He made that year count somewhere else.
The 7-foot-1 big man used the downtime to attack the weight room, and the change is obvious. Potter said the transformation has been a running joke around the program.
“We always joke about how I was able to put on weight and strength in such a short time,” Potter said at Media Day on Monday.
Potter arrived from Miami (OH), where he spent his first two college seasons before transferring back home to Kentucky in the 2025 offseason. He was listed at 215 pounds during his final season with the RedHawks in 2024-25. Now he’s up to 235 pounds on UK’s official website, the product of a steady push to get bigger and stronger once he got to campus.
At Miami (OH), Potter played 56 games with 11 starts and averaged 6.3 points and 3.4 rebounds in 15.7 minutes per game. He has long been viewed as a stretch big, but he knew that label alone wasn’t going to be enough if he wanted a real role with the Wildcats in 2026-27.
“My years past, people always switched me from the three-point line and I wasn’t able to take advantage of that mismatch,” Potter said.
That’s the part of his game he’s trying to change now. Potter believes he’s better equipped to survive inside against SEC frontcourt players, not just step outside and space the floor.
The formula, by his account, wasn’t complicated. It was repetition, discipline and early mornings.
He said 6:00 a.m. trips to the weight room became part of his routine, and the added strength has helped him hold his position in the paint instead of getting moved off his spot.
The outside shot is still there - Potter is a career 39.8 percent three-point shooter in college - but now it comes with more physicality attached to it. He’s also starting to grow into a leadership voice in the locker room.
“Great vet,” Kentucky forward Justin McBride said of Potter. “He teaches me everything, kinda on the court, and what I don’t know and stuff. He helped me a lot this summer, even though he hurt his back earlier, but he’s getting back in the groove, and he’s gonna be a really good big - backup big with Franck (Kepnang), too, because he can shoot the ball and space the floor out, too, so I’m really excited for Reece to get back, too.”
Potter’s 2025-26 season was interrupted by a “chronic health issue,” and he also dealt with a minor back injury this offseason. He’s healthy now entering preseason, and he’ll be behind Malachi Moreno and Franck Kepnang in the center rotation. Even so, his shooting gives Kentucky something those two don’t provide.
For Potter, the path to minutes is straightforward. He has to earn the staff’s trust and prove it when the games count.
“Just being able to build trust with my coaches,” Potter said when asked how he can earn playing time this season. “When I’m in there, being able to do what needs to be done, whether that’s rebounding, stretching the floor, and stuff like that. Being able to do it on the court versus just in practice.”
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