How does Kentucky's returning production compare to the rest of the SEC?

One of the more interesting metrics now in college basketball is returning production. With the ever-changing game due to NIL and the transfer portal, teams see a ton of players walk in and out the door every season. This is the case for Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats as they lost a lot of production from last year's team, and there are a ton of new faces walking in the door.

Jon Rothstein put out a stat showing the returning production for each team in the SEC. Let’s take a look at these numbers for the entire conference and see where the Kentucky Wildcats stack up.

2026-27 SEC Basketball Returning Scoring Percentage

Mar 22, 2026; St. Louis, MO, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope reacts during the first half against the Iowa State Cyclones during a second round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

Florida 87.1%

Georgia 47.1%

Auburn 42.2%

Oklahoma 42.2%

Alabama 36.7%

Mississippi State 33.4%

Vanderbilt 29.2%

Ole Miss 27%

Texas 20.9%

Kentucky 18.4%

Texas A&M 15.4%

Arkansas 15.3%

Missouri 14.4%

Tennessee 8.2%

South Carolina 7.2%

LSU 0%

The Wildcats come in at 10th in the conference, returning 18.4% of their scoring from last season. The only three players back this season for the Wildcats who saw minutes are Malachi Moreno, Kam Williams, and Trent Noah. This means the Wildcats are returning 16.8 points per game. Moreno averaged 7.8, Williams averaged six, and Noah averaged three for the Wildcats last season.

Returning scoring production isn’t everything, but looking at this number shows just how good the Florida Gators are going to be next season. They were a one-seed last year in the NCAA Tournament and return 87.1% of their scoring. It will be tough for the Wildcats or for any SEC team to take them down this season. Todd Golden and the Gators have a real good shot to win it all this year.

Kentucky has a lot of new faces coming in via the transfer portal, so Coach Pope needs to make sure that this team is bonding quickly, as this will help production on the floor. When it comes to returning production, one player BBN is excited about is Moreno. He is going to take a big step this season and could be one of the best bigs in the SEC.

There are new players in Lexington, but Pope has a really good-looking roster that, now with the addition of Milan Momcilovic, could be one of the top teams in the SEC right up there with Florida. This is a very important season for Pope and the Wildcats.

Add us as a preferred source on Google