A former UK high school commit picks the Wildcats again from the transfer portal
What’s old is new again for Kentucky basketball.
On Tuesday morning, the Wildcats picked up a major commitment out of the NCAA transfer portal from a player who was previously committed and signed to play college basketball at Kentucky out of high school.
Former Arizona State freshman big man Jayden Quaintance — a five-star prospect in the 2024 high school recruiting class — has committed to UK and head coach Mark Pope.
The 6-foot-10 Quaintance spent his freshman season with the Sun Devils, where he averaged 9.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals. Quaintance — who was named to the Big 12 Conference All-Freshman and All-Defensive teams — started all 24 games he played for Arizona State last season, averaging 29.7 minutes per contest.
He was also the youngest player in college basketball during the 2024-25 season. Quaintance reclassified from the 2025 to the 2024 high school recruiting group, and he played last season for the Sun Devils as a 17-year-old. Quaintance is viewed as a top prospect for the 2026 NBA draft.
Arizona State went 13-20 overall last season and 4-16 in Big 12 contests. Quaintance led the Sun Devils in rebounding, blocks and steals. He shot 52.5% from the floor for the Sun Devils and just 18.8% on a low volume of 3-pointers.
Quaintance was originally part of the six-player 2024 high school recruiting group assembled by former UK head coach John Calipari in Lexington. Quaintance, along with four other players from that recruiting group, opted not to come to Kentucky after last offseason’s coaching change from Calipari to Pope.
In addition to Quaintance going to Arizona State, center Somto Cyril went to Georgia and a trio of players — Boogie Fland, Karter Knox and Billy Richmond III — followed Calipari to his new job at Arkansas.
The only player from that recruiting group who ended up sticking with the Wildcats through the coaching change was in-state guard Travis Perry.
In that 2024 high school recruiting class, Quaintance was ranked as the No. 9 overall prospect in the nation.
Now, Quaintance — who boasts a 7-foot-5 wingspan and is considered an extremely versatile player on both ends of the court — will make his way back to Lexington for his sophomore season of college basketball.
“We always liked Kentucky,” Haminn Quaintance, Jayden’s father, told ESPN about the decision to commit to Pope and the Wildcats from the portal. “He was committed there before John Calipari left for Arkansas, which is the reason we ended up at Arizona State. We were always hoping they’d come back around and recruit him. It didn’t make sense for Coach Pope last time, trying to take on one of Cal’s guys, but this time it really felt like he wanted him to be there.”
According to ESPN, Quaintance picked UK from the transfer portal over interest from the likes of Auburn, Kansas, Ohio State and Southern Cal, among other schools.
Something to monitor with Quaintance, who doesn’t turn 18 until July, will be his recovery from a knee surgery last month.
Quaintance injured his knee during a game in February and underwent surgery on March 19 to repair a torn ACL. According to ESPN, Haminn Quaintance said that his son is projected to be cleared for contact in September. This would allow Quaintance to be ready for the start of the 2025-26 college basketball season in November.
According to the 247Sports transfer portal rankings, Quaintance is the No. 6 player available in the portal, as of Tuesday morning. This makes Quaintance the top transfer portal pickup so far for Kentucky this offseason.
Quaintance is the fourth transfer portal commit for Pope and Kentucky this spring, joining former Pittsburgh sophomore guard Jaland Lowe, former Alabama sophomore forward Mouhamed Dioubate and former Tulane freshman wing Kam Williams.
Quaintance is also Kentucky’s second portal pickup in less than 24 hours after Dioubate committed to UK on Monday night.
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Mark Pope, UK basketball build roster for 2025-26 season
While a wholesale roster reset isn’t expected, Pope has gotten to work this offseason when it comes to retooling the Kentucky roster for the 2025-26 season.
Six players from the 2024-25 UK team are out of NCAA eligibility. Those players are Ansley Almonor, Koby Brea, Lamont Butler, Andrew Carr, Jaxson Robinson and Amari Williams. Their college basketball careers are over.
Guard Kerr Kriisa is expected to get a sixth season of college eligibility due to his injury issues, and he committed to Cincinnati from Kentucky out of the transfer portal on Sunday.
Players from the 2024-25 UK team who could return to the Wildcats next season are freshmen guards Collin Chandler and Travis Perry, freshman forward Trent Noah, sophomore center Brandon Garrison and junior guard Otega Oweh.
UK now has seven newcomers in the fold for next season. Those players are transfer portal additions Dioubate, Lowe, Quaintance and Williams, plus incoming high school recruits Jasper Johnson, Acaden Lewis and Malachi Moreno, who recently won a Sweet 16 state championship with Georgetown’s Great Crossing High School.
Moreno was a McDonald’s All-American this year. Each of Johnson, Lewis and Moreno are top-30 recruits nationally.
Kentucky is also still involved in the recruitment of high school senior Nate Ament, a five-star power forward from Virginia. Ament is down to five schools in his college recruitment: Arkansas, Duke, Kentucky, Louisville and Tennessee.
This story was originally published April 8, 2025 at 10:21 AM.
