15 Ansley Almonor

Ansley Almonor was born on April 30 in Spring Valley, New York. A 6-foot-7, 244-pound forward, Almonor starred at Fairleigh Dickinson before transferring to the University of Kentucky for his senior season in 2024-25. During four seasons at Fairleigh Dickinson, he developed into one of the Northeast Conference’s top players, earning NEC Most Improved Player honors in 2022-23, First Team All-NEC recognition in 2023-24, and surpassing 1,000 career points. He helped lead the Knights to one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history when No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson defeated No. 1 Purdue in 2023, a victory he later described as the most memorable moment of his basketball career.

At Kentucky, Almonor appeared in all 36 games and made seven starts for head coach Mark Pope’s first Wildcats team. He averaged 5.3 points and 1.6 rebounds while ranking third on the team with 39 made three-pointers and reaching double figures in scoring 11 times. His season included a 15-point performance on Senior Night against LSU and key contributions in victories over Tennessee, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Alabama. Almonor also became the first player in Kentucky men’s basketball history to shoot at least 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from three-point range and 90 percent from the free-throw line in a single season (minimum qualifying attempts), and he was named to the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll.