After his UK freshman year didn’t go to plan, Jasper Johnson picks a new school
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Former UK basketball guard Jasper Johnson commits to Oregon from transfer portal.
- Johnson came to Kentucky as a five-star recruit, but his freshman year didn’t go to plan.
- Johnson is a former Kentucky high school basketball star at Woodford County.
Following a disappointing freshman season at Kentucky, Jasper Johnson is ready to start fresh.
And he’s found the school where he hopes to reset his college basketball career.
On Saturday, Johnson committed to Oregon out of the NCAA transfer portal, he announced on social media.
The 20-year-old Johnson arrived at UK as a celebrated recruit in the 2025 high school class. Johnson finished that recruiting cycle as the No. 21 overall prospect in the country, according to the 247Sports Composite. This made him the highest-ranked high school recruit to commit to play for Mark Pope in college.
Johnson’s commitment to the Wildcats was also celebrated because of his family connection to Kentucky. Johnson — who started his high school career at Woodford County, before making stops at Link Academy in Missouri and Overtime Elite in Atlanta — is the son of UK football legend Dennis Johnson and the nephew of former UK football player Derrick Johnson.
But Johnson didn’t live up to his five-star billing this past season. He struggled to find consistent playing time for the Wildcats as a freshman, averaging 4.9 points and 1.6 assists in 12.0 minutes per game. Johnson came off the bench in all 35 of his appearances for UK.
Johnson’s limited role for Kentucky extended to postseason play. He appeared for only eight minutes, combined, in Kentucky’s two NCAA Tournament games. Over the final month of the season, Johnson failed to score more than four points in a game.
The 6-foot-5 Johnson — who made 31 of his 91 attempts (34.1%) from 3-point range as a freshman — was often deployed in a reserve point guard role for Kentucky after Jaland Lowe underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in January.
Johnson — who is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 151 player in the transfer portal — is now set to join an Oregon program that went 12-20 this past season. Head coach Dana Altman also lost starting guard Jackson Shelstad to Louisville in the transfer portal this offseason.
In addition to Johnson, the Ducks have received portal commitments from San Diego State sophomore forward Pharaoh Compton, Boise State junior forward Andrew Meadow and San Francisco sophomore guard Tyrone Riley IV. Riley has been a UK portal target in the past two offseasons.
Seven players from Kentucky’s 2025-26 team have entered the transfer portal this offseason. Johnson is the sixth player to commit to a new school from the portal.
He’s joined by senior guard Denzel Aberdeen (Florida), sophomore guard Collin Chandler (BYU), sophomore forward Andrija Jelavic (Ohio State), junior guard Jaland Lowe (Georgetown) and junior forward Brandon Garrison (Alabama).
Junior forward Mouhamed Dioubate is the only outgoing transfer from Kentucky who is yet to commit to a new school.
