Former Iowa guard CJ Frederick has signed with the Kentucky men’s basketball team for the upcoming season, according to UK Athletics.

In his two seasons with the Hawkeyes, the 6-foot-3 sharpshooter shot 46.6 percent from three-point range while averaging 8.8 points per game.

Some Kentucky fans may already be familiar with Fredrick, who captured the title of 2018 Gatorade Kentucky Player of the Year while leading Covington Catholic High School (Covington, Kentucky) to a state title and becoming MVP of the Sweet Sixteen. He averaged 23.1 points per game and shot 48.4 percent beyond the arc in his senior campaign. 

“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.”

What seems to be a new trend for Kentucky’s 2021-22 roster, the Cincinnati native’s announcement marks the third transfer to commit to the Wildcats. The other two include Oscar Tshiebwe and Kellan Grady. 

“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.”

Last season as a redshirt sophomore, Fredrick was an honorable mention All-Big Ten selections as well as Iowa’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honoree in 2021.

Fredrick is finishing up the academic semester at Iowa before making the move to Lexington in the next couple of weeks.