CJ Fredrick is headed to the transfer portal after an injury-plagued tenure at Kentucky

In the moments that immediately followed Kentucky’s final defeat of the 2022-23 season, an admittedly emotional CJ Fredrick sat at his locker in the Greensboro Coliseum and talked about his college basketball career to that point.

If his mood seemed reflective, Fredrick said that night, there was good reason.

“This could be my last game playing college basketball,” the 23-year-old guard said. “And you just look back at five years, and all of the relationships I’ve had. And the experiences I’ve had. I wouldn’t change anything, honestly. All of the injuries, everything — I wouldn’t change it. It’s made me a better person. It’s made me a better man.”

Kentucky’s loss to Kansas State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament might not have been Fredrick’s final game as a college basketball player, but it now appears to be his final game in a Wildcats uniform.

Fredrick announced Friday that he will enter the transfer portal and look at other options to close out his college career. In a social media post directed at his “UK family and Big Blue Nation,” he said it had been a “dream come true” to play for John Calipari and “the best fans in the world” at Kentucky. He also thanked others on the UK support staff and said he expected to have “relationships for a lifetime” with his UK teammates.

“Having to deal with a couple of freakish injuries, I hope everyone knows that I’ve given my heart and soul to you and I’m proud that I’ll always get to be a Wildcat,” Fredrick wrote. “In just a few weeks, I’ll be able to proudly say that I’m a graduate of the University of Kentucky.

“Having fulfilled this lifetime dream, I feel it is in my best interest to explore every option for my future for so many reasons. In addition to considering professional options, I’ll be entering the portal while maintaining my college eligibility. Thank you all for the support.”

The Cincinnati native was a high school standout in Kentucky, leading Covington Catholic to a state championship and earning Sweet Sixteen MVP honors as a senior before enrolling at Iowa.

He sat out his first college season due to injury and then emerged as an immediate starter for the Hawkeyes during his redshirt freshman year. A complementary player who often played through injuries on two solid Iowa teams, Fredrick established himself as one of the nation’s best three-point shooters, going 46.6 percent from long range over those first two seasons of college ball.

He transferred to Kentucky before the 2021-22 campaign, missed much of that summer while rehabbing a shin injury, then suffered a torn hamstring that sidelined him for the entire season.

Fredrick declared himself as healthy as he’d ever been as a college player going into the 2022-23 season, and he got off to a promising start — averaging 17.0 points and going 6-for-12 from three-point range over Kentucky’s first two games.

The veteran guard scored in double figures five times over UK’s first 11 games, shooting 39.6 percent from three-point range heading into the team’s league opener at Missouri. On that night, Fredrick suffered an injury to his shooting hand that kept him out of action for two weeks. Returning with a protective sleeve on his shooting hand, Fredrick shot just 25.6 percent from deep over the next several games. On the first night without the sleeve, he scored 12 points and went 3-for-6 on threes in a victory over Florida, but he suffered a serious rib injury after falling out of bounds into a TV camera on the baseline at Rupp Arena. That setback sidelined him for another three weeks and pretty much derailed the rest of his season.

Upon Fredrick’s return to the court in late February, he scored 11 total points and was 2-for-11 on threes over Kentucky’s final six games. He had just three total points in the team’s two NCAA Tournament games.

“This poor kid can’t catch a break,” Calipari said before the Kansas State game. “Every time I turn around it’s an ankle, it’s a rib, it’s — and his hamstring. What is going on?”

Kentucky’s coach had praised Fredrick throughout the season for his leadership style and team-first approach since arriving in Lexington, and Calipari continued to single out the senior guard for his unselfishness while playing through injuries to finish out the 2022-23 season.

“You know what, he has never changed his attitude,” Calipari said the day before UK’s season ended. “He is always upbeat. He is always helpful.”

Fredrick averaged 6.1 points in 22.2 minutes per game with 15 starts in 27 appearances in his lone season at Kentucky. He shot 31.8 percent from three-point range.

The Herald-Leader was told that — if Fredrick does indeed play college basketball next season — the hometown Cincinnati Bearcats could be a frontrunner for his commitment.

“I enjoyed coaching CJ,” Calipari said Friday. “What I loved most was that he never changed as a person or competitor despite dealing with all of the injuries. He got back up every time and did whatever he could for his team. He knows he’ll always have a supporter in me, and I wish him nothing but the best.”

What’s next for Kentucky?

Fredrick’s decision did not catch UK off guard, and it might not even necessarily lead to the Wildcats filling his spot before next season.

The backcourt was already looking pretty crowded, thanks to an influx of new recruits that Calipari will lean on to return Kentucky to postseason glory in 2024.

DJ Wagner — a projected lottery pick in next year’s NBA Draft — is the presumptive starting point guard for next season, and the 2023 recruiting class also features 6-foot-1 combo guard Rob Dillingham and 6-3 combo guard Reed Sheppard, both highly touted prospects. Dillingham is also considered a potential first-round NBA pick in 2024, while Sheppard is expected to receive meaningful playing time as a freshman.

Justin Edwards — another projected lottery pick in 2024 — is expected to be the Wildcats’ starter at the “3” position and spend much of his time next season as a perimeter player. It also seems more likely than not that Antonio Reeves — the Cats’ leading backcourt scorer last season — will return to UK for his final season of college basketball, though he is still testing the NBA Draft waters. And freshman Adou Thiero also figures into UK’s backcourt plans for the 2023-24 season. Thiero could be used at a number of different positions, depending on how his unique and versatile skill set continues to progress.

Freshman forward Chris Livingston, who is also going through the NBA Draft process, could still return for a second year, and he’d likely play perimeter minutes, as well.

That accumulation of talent wouldn’t have left much guaranteed playing time for Fredrick, and the uncertainty over available minutes in the UK backcourt likely would give pause to any top guard in the transfer portal.

Unless Reeves and Livingston both depart this offseason, the Wildcats will be looking at other areas of positional need to fill out next season’s roster.

Former Michigan center Hunter Dickinson — the top-ranked player in the transfer portal — is scheduled to visit Lexington this weekend, while UK star Oscar Tshiebwe continues to deliberate on his basketball future.

Kentucky is also on the lookout for a stretch “4”-type of player in the transfer portal, the Herald-Leader has been told, though no promising options have yet to surface.

The deadline to enter the portal is May 11, and college basketball players who have entered the NBA Draft have until May 31 to remove their names from consideration and retain NCAA eligibility.

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