LEXINGTON, Ky. — Former Iowa guard C.J. Fredrick has transferred to Kentucky to play for John Calipari and the Wildcats.
“I am very excited for this new opportunity in my basketball career,” Fredrick said. “I really appreciate the confidence Coach Cal has in me. I am looking forward to going to work and developing as a player with Coach Cal, the staff and my future teammates. Thank you to Coach (Fran) McCaffery, the staff, my teammates and Iowa fans for three memorable years. I cannot wait to get back on the floor at Rupp Arena to help this team win and make Big Blue Nation proud.”
Fredrick is a Cincinnati native who played his high school ball at Covington Catholic. He was the Gatorade Player of the Year in the state of Kentucky in 2018 and was a member of the Kentucky All-Star team that went up against Indiana.
Fredrick redshirted his first season at Iowa and then played 25 games in his redshirt freshman season where he was the Hawkeyes third leading scorer at 10 points per game. He also shot a Big Ten-best 46.1 percent (47-of-102) from 3-point range and reached double figures in 13 contests. He was voted to the All-Big Ten Freshman team.
Then in his redshirt sophomore season the 6'3" guard started 27 games in 2020-21 but missed four full games and three second halves of other contests after Jan. 17 due to planter fasciitis. He ranked fourth on the team in points per game (7.5) and 3-pointers made (36). His 47.4 percent shooting from 3-point range was the second best percentage by a sophomore in Iowa history.
“CJ Fredrick is an established college player from a terrific program who has competed at the highest level and has made big shots and big plays,” UK head coach John Calipari said. “As we all know, CJ is a terrific shooter, but what stuck out to make on tape is he takes care of the ball – he has an excellent assist-to-turnover ratio – and he can hold his own defensively. He guarded the best guard on the other team in just about everything I have seen.
“What I love about CJ is his approach in all of this. In every conversation I have had with him, he has a great plan of how he wants to improve and where he needs to take his game to get better. He wants to be challenged, he wants to be coached and he embraces competition.”
Fredrick is an elite shooter. He has hit a combined 83 3-pointers on 178 attempts in his two collegiate seasons, a 46.6% mark.
