Guard Davidson Kellan Grady Transfers To Kentucky!

(Photo by Mark LoMoglio / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Help is on the way! Kentucky just announced that Davidson transfer graduate Kellan Grady arrives in Lexington.

Welcome to the family, @ KellanGrady31 #The family X #BuiltDifferent ?? pic.twitter.com/tTaAznuAN4

– Kentucky Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) March 29, 2021

The 6’5 ″ guard is one of the best transfers out there and will join the Blue and White Wildcats after four seasons with the Reds and Blacks. At Davidson, he has totaled over 2,000 points on 47.2% of career shooting and averaged at least 17.1 points per game over the four years. With 240 career 3-pointers, Grady made at least 51 lines over the course of four seasons and clocked a career-high 38.2% behind the arc in 2020-21. He has 21 games with at least four 3 points.

Under NCAA graduate transfer rules, Grady will be eligible to play for the Wildcats in the fall after graduating from Davidson with an undergraduate degree in sociology. He is expected to graduate in May.

“First of all, I want to express my undying gratitude to Davidson College, Coach McKillop and all of his staff for giving me the opportunity to represent Davidson for the past four years,” Grady said. “It really was an amazing experience and made me a better player – and more importantly, a better person.

“Having said that, I’m very excited to be a Wildcat again and play for Coach Calipari at the University of Kentucky. It’s a great opportunity to compete at the highest level and pursue my dreams. I am grateful for this opportunity and can’t wait to get to work. “

Grady will be Kentucky’s fourth graduate transfer in the past four seasons. The UK added Stanford’s Reid Travis for the 2018-19 season, Bucknell’s Nate Sestina for 2019-20 and Creighton’s Davion Mintz last season. Travis helped anchor a frontcourt that went to the 2019 Elite Eight, Sestina provided valuable depth and quick shot for the 2020 Southeastern Conference champions, and Mintz was the top scorer and 3-way shooter. Kentucky points in 2020-2021.

“Kellan has established himself as one of the best players in the country,” said British head coach John Calipari. “His size, his skills, his ability to score and his ability to play say a lot about the player he is. Kellan played in a great program under the direction of a great coach, Bob McKillop. He’s a four-year-old starter whose tenacity and combat will add to our squad. His consistency from match to match – his score, his ability to share the ball and his defense – is part of what makes him special, and we’re delighted to see him join a team that was close last season but who needed what he gives us. to reach the top. “

Grady, a native of Boston, has been one of the top Atlantic 10 players since the very start of his college career. He’s been selected by All-A-10 four times, including a two-time first-team pick. He has won the A-10 Player of the Week title five times in his career with Davidson, in addition to five A-10 Rookie of the Week honors in his breakthrough 2017-18 campaign. Grady was named A-10 Rookie of the Year this season.

Grady averaged 17.4 points in his time at Davidson, scoring 18.0 points per game his freshman season, 17.3 in sophomore, 17.2 in junior and 17.1 last season. With the option to play either guard position, Grady averaged 4.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game in 2020-21. That scoring consistency will be a welcome addition to the Kentucky roster, which has posted its lowest scoring average and goalscoring percentage in the Calipari era of 12 seasons. Grady has scored in double figures 96 times in his career, 20 points or more 44 times and 30 points or more six times. His career high is 39 points, defining his first season. Davidson posted a four-season winning record with Grady on the roster, including an NCAA tournament appearance in 2018 that casually pitted him against Kentucky in the first round. He scored 16 points in the 78-73 loss to Great Britain. Grady was one of the top 70 prospects (Rivals and 247Sports) outside of high school. He was an all-state selection of the Northfield Mount Hermon School.

From Davidson and Kentucky Wildcat to Kentucky Wildcat, welcome aboard, Kellan.

UPDATE: You’ve read a lot about Grady as a player, but if you want to know more about the person, I encourage you to check out his article for Visible magazine earlier this month, in which he wrote about the fight of his grandparents against apartheid in South Africa in the 1950s and 1960s inspired him to take his own stand for social justice.

“I still want to be an NBA player. I am an athlete and that has always been my goal. However, as much as I love to play basketball, what I really want is to make a difference and inspire other people to make a difference.

“Hoop Dreams and Human Dignity”, by Kellan Grady