Riley Welch got to start against Florida on UK's Senior Day. (SEC Photo)
Ever wonder how a walk-on basketball player at Kentucky gets to spend his time since he almost never plays in a game? Senior Riley Welch came to join coach John Calipari’s program to help him with a future coaching career. He knew what his role would be and relished it.
“Everyone has their role to play, obviously. The way we kind of do things here is our top 10 guys go against one another in practice and if you’re not in that 10, you might not be practicing as much that day,” Welch said.
“As a walk-on, a lot of times if there’s two healthy point guards, I’m not doing a ton. But this year with the injury to Terrence (Clarke) and moving Davion (Mintz) into the starting lineup, I’ve been the point guard on the second unit.”
Welch understood he played a significant role this year even if no one else outside the basketball program did.
“When I’m out there I can’t slow things down. I’m expected to be up to speed with everyone else. He (Calipari) challenges me to try and make our guys better. I’m super fortunate to have the relationship that I do with Coach Cal, how much trust he’s had in me throughout my time here,” Welch said.
“I can’t really give you a specific example of something incredibly difficult, but I just think of the times when I’d match up with Ashton (Hagans) in practice, Davion in practice, Devin (Askew) in practice, Immanuel (Quickley), Tyrese (Maxey).
“I think just someone who wasn’t thought of as a high recruit or anything, to be able to contribute something and help those guys improve, I guess that’s the way Cal has held me to a high standard.”
