Ulis anxious to play with Matthews again

Ask Tyler Ulis what he knows about future teammate Charles Matthews, and he'll give you a long answer, but it's the first word that matters most.

"Everything," the Kentucky point guard said this week.

Ulis, a UK sophomore to be, and Matthews, a high school senior who has signed with UK, played together for MeanStreets, a Chicago-based AAU program in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League.

The 5-foot-9 Ulis ran the point and the 6-foot-5 Matthews, Rivals' No. 48 player in the Class of 2015, played primarily on the wing.

"So we've been playing together for a while," Ulis said. "He's been around for a while. That's my boy, so I can't wait for him to get here. He's gonna be a great finisher around the rim. I know he works hard on his game, and I feel like he's gonna fit in great."

Matthews has built a reputation as a defender, but during his senior season at St. Rita in Chicago, he averaged more than 23 points per game. He had a stretch of four straight games in January with 28 or more points.

"I'm a defensive player, but that's because it's pride," Matthews said earlier this year. "Where I'm from if someone is scoring on you that's embarrassing. I stayed in the gym and tried to build some consistency around my shooting ability and continue to grow my confidence and my playmaking ability and my ballhandling."

Ulis saw that improvement coming.

Matthews had "a couple things he needed to work on," Ulis said, including his handle and a pull-up jumper, and "he's getting that down."

"I watched a couple of his tapes, watched a couple of his games, and he's a completely different player than he was when we played together," Ulis said. "I feel like he's gonna come in, have a great impact defensively and offensively, and I can't wait."

Kentucky coach John Calipari called Ulis "the perfect kind of guard for Charles," because his ballhandling and game management lets Matthews play off the ball and "just do (his) thing." Matthews isn't yet ready to take on significant offensive responsibility, Calipari said.

"It's going to be great because we have a lot of chemistry together," Matthews said of playing with Ulis. "We made a lot of positive things happen."

T.J. Walker contributed to this report.