Kam Williams update

The Kentucky Wildcats were back in Rupp Arena yesterday afternoon for their final practice before the second game of the regular season.

And Kam Williams was out there with them.

In fact, Williams has been a full participant in UK’s practice sessions for the past week. He jumped into 5-on-5 play last Friday — after several ramp-up days that included strength and conditioning drills, as well as some non-contact play — and there have been no setbacks since.

Williams, who is working his way back from a second surgery to repair a Jones fracture suffered in January, appears to be close to a return to game action. He missed all of the eight-week summer session due to the injury and had been sidelined this fall before slowly working his way back into the mix in recent weeks.

The 6-foot-7 wing was able to do everything his teammates did during yesterday’s session.

He flashed nimble footwork throughout the nearly two-hour practice. He also played with physicality, initiating contact and taking it across the team’s drills. During one portion of practice against the scout team, he drove through traffic to the basket, finishing with a spin move and dunk at the rim.

After playing alongside the backups during walkthroughs, he joined the rest of the team for a fairly intense session of transition drills and then scrimmaged against the starters. Williams played primarily at the 3 spot — with Mason Williams running the point and Braydon Hawthorne at the 2 — while matching up with Milan Momcilovic on both ends during full-court, full-contact 5-on-5 play.

Williams stayed on the court for at least 15 minutes after every other player had wrapped up their post-practice routine, putting up extra shots before heading back to the Rupp locker room.

Tonight’s game against James Madison will be Kentucky’s final tuneup before its first marquee matchup of the season: a date with Kansas in the Champions Classic in Chicago on Tuesday night. UK would surely like to have Williams back for that one, and making his debut tonight would allow him to get a little foundation against outside competition before the Cats face the Jayhawks.