‘It’s like at home.’ Braydon Hawthorne welcomes his brother, Zyon, to UK
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Zyon Hawthorne signed with Kentucky in late April after his senior year at Huntington.
- Braydon serves as roommate and mentor to Zyon during Zyon’s first UK offseason.
- Braydon Hawthorne says team chemistry improved as players live together in the lodge.
Braydon Hawthorne’s second Kentucky offseason is much easier than his first.
Team chemistry, he said, is flowing much faster now that all the guys are living together in the Wildcat Coal Lodge. A once-new city is now familiar. And, thanks to a dedicated nutrition plan last season, he’s physically stronger and better-equipped for college basketball.
But the biggest shift is Hawthorne’s favorite — that now, his younger brother, Zyon Hawthorne, is with him in Lexington as he enters his own first UK offseason.
“It’s really awesome, to be honest with you,” Braydon Hawthorne said. “Having him as my roommate over there in the lodge is pretty cool. It’s like at home.”
Hawthorne described Zyon as a “silly” guy whom he can talk to about anything and recalled a story of early competition between him and his new teammate.
“I just enjoy being around him,” Braydon Hawthorne said. “...We was in middle school and I had my new Kyries. The ‘Lucky Charms’ ones. And he had some. We was playing one-on-one, and it was kind of muddy in the backyard. So, our shoes got a little muddy. And it got physical. So he stepped on my shoe — my brand-new shoe! So I pushed him. That’s what I remember. But we had a lot of different things. We used to play football, soccer, baseball in the backyard. We did a lot.”
Sharing a living space and playing on the mini hoop “a lot,” Hawthorne said, has added a new layer to his college experience. One that, until Zyon’s senior year, the brothers and lifelong UK fans weren’t expecting.
The younger Hawthorne, a 6-foot-2 guard, spent his senior year of high school at Huntington (West Virginia) Prep — also Braydon’s alma mater — after three years at Woodrow Wilson High School, which he departed as third-all time in career assists. Zyon averaged 11.2 points, 7.0 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game with Huntington Prep last season and was also a 2025 participant in the Wootten Top 150 Camp.
“He’s a real, true point guard,” Braydon Hawthorne said. “He likes to get his teammates involved. He’s very athletic in his speed.”
Zyon told West Virginia media in May that Braydon being a Wildcat may have meant UK knew about him, but it was his father, Walt, who made sure Mark Pope’s staff was paying attention.
“How they found out? My dad, at the very beginning of (senior) year, he just kept on sending ‘em film throughout the whole year,” Zyon Hawthorne said. “And me and Coach Pope ended up having a conversation. And last year, they had a lot of injuries with guards, so I feel like that might have played a factor, as well.”
Zyon signed with Kentucky in late April over Arkansas State, Bethune-Cookman, LaSalle, Radford and Wichita State, among others. He joins four-star guard Mason Williams in Kentucky’s freshman class.
Braydon Hawthorne called his brother’s choice “very exciting,” though he was careful to “stay out of it,” and allow Zyon to make the best decision for himself.
“He worked hard for it,” Braydon Hawthorne said. “He had a great senior year, and he made the decision out of here and a couple of other mid-major schools.”
On the court, Braydon Hawthorne said, “it’s pretty cool, too,” that he can provide Zyon with guidance he wished he’d had when he embarked upon his own redshirt freshman year.
“He’s going through what I was going through last year (when I was) redshirting,” Hawthorne said. “And I feel like I didn’t have that person to help me and walk me through it, so I can kind of be there for him and help him through it…Little things, little mistakes he’ll make that you can get away with in high school that you can’t get away with in practice in college.”
Braydon Hawthorne said he understands there might be times when he has to reassure his brother to stay committed to the process while waiting his turn and laughed when asked about any times during last season when he found it most difficult that he had to stay on the bench.
“All of ‘em,” he said. “I feel like I could’ve helped in so many ways last year. But, you know, just had to sit there, be patient and wait for my turn.”
