Highly touted basketball recruit John Petty sets a date for his visit to UK

Five-star basketball recruit John Petty will be in Lexington later this month for his official visit to the University of Kentucky.

Petty — a 6-foot-5 wing from Huntsville, Ala. — told the Herald-Leader over the summer that he wanted to attend Big Blue Madness, which is Friday night, for the second consecutive year. He won’t be able to make that trip this weekend due to a scheduling conflict.

Instead, Petty will take his official visit to Kentucky on the weekend of Oct. 28, his high school coach, Jack Doss, told the Herald-Leader on Wednesday.

Petty’s recruitment is expected to come down to UK and Alabama, the home-state school that has made him its top priority for the 2017 class. Wildcats Coach John Calipari has also pursued Petty vigorously, making him the first player from the class to receive a UK scholarship offer and visiting him on the first day of the fall recruiting period last month, then returning to Huntsville for another meeting with Petty a few days later.

Alabama hosted Petty for an official visit in August.

Petty’s high school, Mae Jemison, will play two games at the Marshall County Hoop Fest in western Kentucky in December. One of those games will be against defending state champion Paul Laurence Dunbar.

247Sports ranks Petty as the No. 28 overall prospect in the class of 2017.

This story was originally published October 12, 2016 at 3:26 PM with the headline "Highly touted basketball recruit John Petty sets a date for his visit to UK."