The number behind Milan Momcilovic’s Naismith push

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Wildcats Wire

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Wildcats Wire
The number behind Milan Momcilovic’s Naismith push

Lee Ann Herring Olvedo, UK Wildcats Wire · Wildcats Wire

Tue, November 3, 2026 at 4:14 PM UTC ·

4 min read

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Start with a number: 48.7.

That was Milan Momcilovic's three-point percentage a year ago, best in the country, and he reached it while launching enough attempts to make 136 threes, also best in the country. Those two titles rarely belong to the same player. Volume shooters tend to bleed accuracy, and accurate shooters tend to be careful with their attempts. Momcilovic did neither, and now he carries that number into Rupp Arena, where Mark Pope's Kentucky Wildcats open their season at 7PM ET against Manhattan .

The senior has not played a minute of regular-season basketball for Kentucky , yet his name is already on the Naismith Trophy preseason watch list, one of 50 on the ballot for national player of the year. His October gave the voters nothing to second-guess. Across three exhibitions he led Kentucky at 16.7 points a game, which comes to about 50 points total. He hit 9 of 20 from three and 15 of 31 from the field, and he never missed at the line, going 11 for 11. He added 5.7 rebounds a night, a reminder that he is not just a spot-up threat.

The résumé was already thick when he arrived from Iowa State, where his 260 career threes rank second in school history. Preseason lists have kept stacking up since. CBS Sports, 247Sports and Sports Illustrated each tabbed him a preseason All-American. The SEC's coaches and its media both slotted him on the preseason all-league team. He is also on the Julius Erving Award watch list and the NABC Player of the Year list.

The Naismith watch list is also a map of where the sport's power sits, and it tilts toward Momcilovic's new neighborhood. The SEC accounts for 15 of the 50 names, 30 percent of the field and more than any other league. The Big Ten and Big 12 have 10 apiece, the ACC has nine, the Big East four and the Pac-12 two. Florida alone has three players on it. Kentucky has one.

That lone entry is the point. Momcilovic won't be one of several scoring threats a defense must respect on a given night. He's the one every defense will plan around, and in the SEC the plans get smarter and the closeouts longer as winter goes on. Exhibition shooting tells you a player is healthy and in rhythm. It does not tell you what he does in February, when the scouting report is memorized and every screen is switched.

Tonight won't answer that, and nobody should expect it to. Manhattan is the first page of a long season, and the Naismith race is decided on the road in January, not at home in November. But the opening game is when a watch list starts turning into a résumé, and Momcilovic walks into it with a stat line, a scouting report and a number that every defender in the league knows by now.

2026-27 Naismith Trophy Men's College Player of the Year Watch List

Name	Class	Position	School	Conference
Amari Allen	Sophomore	Guard	Alabama	SEC
Flory Bidunga	Junior	Forward	Louisville	ACC
John Blackwell	Senior	Guard	Duke	ACC
Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje	Freshman	Center	Duke	ACC
Elliot Cadeau	Senior	Guard	Michigan	Big Ten
Rueben Chinyelu	Senior	Center	Florida	SEC
Alex Condon	Senior	Forward	Florida	SEC
Jason Crowe Jr.	Freshman	Guard	Missouri	SEC
Thijs De Ridder	Sophomore	Forward	Virginia	ACC
Silas Demary Jr.	Senior	Guard	UConn	Big East
Mason Falslev	Senior	Guard	Utah State	Pac-12
Jeremy Fears Jr.	Junior	Guard	Michigan State	Big Ten
PJ Haggerty	Senior	Guard	Texas A&M	SEC
Juke Harris	Junior	Guard	Tennessee	SEC
Thomas Haugh	Senior	Forward	Florida	SEC
Shelton Henderson	Sophomore	Forward	Miami	ACC
Aden Holloway	Senior	Guard	Alabama	SEC
Caleb Holt	Freshman	Guard	Arizona	Big 12
Josh Hubbard	Senior	Guard	Mississippi State	SEC
Braden Huff	Senior	Forward	Gonzaga	Pac-12
Tomislav Ivišić	Senior	Center	Illinois	Big Ten
Nigel James Jr.	Sophomore	Guard	Marquette	Big East
Trey Kaufman-Renn	Senior	Forward	Kansas	Big 12
Ivan Kharchenkov	Sophomore	Forward	Arizona	Big 12
Motiejus Krivas	Senior	Center	Arizona	Big 12
Acaden Lewis	Sophomore	Guard	Miami	ACC
Tamin Lipsey	Senior	Guard	Iowa State	Big 12
Trey McKenney	Sophomore	Guard	Michigan	Big Ten
David Mirković	Sophomore	Forward	Illinois	Big Ten
John Mobley Jr.	Junior	Guard	Ohio State	Big Ten
Milan Momcilovic	Senior	Forward	Kentucky	SEC
Braylon Mullins	Sophomore	Guard	UConn	Big East
Paulius Murauskas	Senior	Forward	Arizona State	Big 12
Patrick Ngongba II	Junior	Center	Duke	ACC
Tahaad Pettiford	Junior	Guard	Auburn	SEC
David Punch	Junior	Forward	Texas	SEC
Malik Reneau	Senior	Forward	Miami	ACC
Rodney Rice	Senior	Guard	USC	Big Ten
Pryce Sandfort	Senior	Forward	Nebraska	Big Ten
Jackson Shelstad	Senior	Guard	Louisville	ACC
Jordan Smith Jr.	Freshman	Guard	Arkansas	SEC
Andrej Stojaković	Senior	Guard	Illinois	Big Ten
Tyran Stokes	Freshman	Guard	Kansas	Big 12
Tyler Tanner	Junior	Guard	Vanderbilt	SEC
JT Toppin	Senior	Forward	Texas Tech	Big 12
Joseph Tugler	Senior	Forward	Houston	Big 12
Matas Vokietaitis	Junior	Center	Texas	SEC
Nolan Winter	Senior	Forward	Wisconsin	Big Ten
Robert Wright III	Junior	Guard	BYU	Big 12
Tounde Yessoufou	Sophomore	Guard	St. John's	Big East

This article originally appeared on UK Wildcats Wire: The number behind Milan Momcilovic's Naismith push

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