UK walk-ons Pulliam, David living the dream, take their roles seriously with Cats


By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today

Dillon Pullium is living the dream.

Pullium, one of two wall-ons on the Kentucky men’s basketball team, knows the special feeling that comes from playing for the Wildcats. Pullium, a Cynthiana native, enjoyed a standout career at Harrison County High School and fulfilling a childhood dream as he completes an engineering degree.

Dillon Pulliam grew up a Kentucky Wildcats fan and is living the dream of playing for the Wildcats as he pursues a degree in engineering. (UK Athletics Photo)

“As a kid my dream was always to play college basketball growing up in Kentucky,” he said. “But knowing that you play in the blue and white, it’s been it’s been a dream come true for me. So I’ll trying to just enjoy every moment of it and learn as much as I can.”

Pulliam played in a few games last season and got a taste of what it’s like to play in front of a packed house at Rupp Arena.

“It’s hard to put into words what it’s like to play in front of 20,000 of the Big Blue Nation,” Pulliam said. “It really is incredible. I was a little nervous at first, but I got over it the first time or two.”

In his hometown of Cynthiana, Pullium is a hometown hero.

“Definitely are a lot of like young kids that look up to you,” he said. “So whenever I go back home I just try to encourage them to help them any way they can ask questions. I mean it’s helped me. So I just try to be positive.”

Now considered one of the veterans on the team, Pulliam is taking on more of a leadership role for the young Wildcats.

“I’m trying to be as much of a leader as I can,” Pullium said. “I just try to help them out in any way I can, getting to know the campus and the city of Lexington. As a team I mean we just want to get better every single day be the best version of ourselves,” Pulliam said. “Our ultimate goal will be to compete for the regular season title and eventually the national championship. So right now we’re just focused on taking it every day day by day and getting better.”

Although not from the Bluegrass, Jonny David is enjoying his tour of duty as a member of the team. Like Pullium, David, a Pittsburgh native, is enjoying the experience.

“It’s fun,” David said. “I can’t say a negative thing about it if I wanted to. I’ll cherish these memories for the rest of my life. When I first came here, it was the Kentucky effect and it was just amazing. It’s amazing, but after a while that goes away a little bit.”

Keith Taylor is sports editor for Kentucky Today. Reach him at keith.taylor@kentuckytoday.com or twitter @keithtaylor21.


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