As one target chooses FSU, Kentucky basketball keeps recruiting the transfer portal
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Mark Pope’s UK basketball program has picked up two transfer portal commitments so far.
- Washington sophomore guard Zoom Diallo, Furman freshman guard Alex Wilkins have committed.
- Remaining portal targets for Kentucky include Syracuse sophomore forward Donnie Freeman.
There was talk entering this past weekend of some major transfer portal developments for the Kentucky basketball program.
Those expectations were met.
On Saturday, Mark Pope’s program landed its second portal commitment of the offseason in the form of Furman freshman guard Alex Wilkins. A high-scoring guard from the mid-major ranks, Wilkins is bringing plenty of scoring pop to Lexington.
Who will be the next to join him?
The Wildcats are continuing to pursue their established top choices from the transfer portal, and new portal players are still emerging as UK targets. Elsewhere, players who were recruited by Kentucky from the portal are making their college choices.
UK transfer portal target Sebastian Rancik commits to Florida State
Kentucky was thought to be in a good spot with Sebastian Rancik, a 6-foot-11 sophomore forward from Colorado who averaged 12.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game this past season.
Rancik, who is from Slovakia, took a recruiting visit to Kentucky this past week. He was on campus at the same time as Wilkins.
But, UK lost out to Florida State for Rancik’s commitment. He announced his portal choice Sunday morning.
Rancik — who played in 29 of Colorado’s 33 games, with 26 starts — is No. 96 in the transfer portal rankings.
UK will need to pursue other options from the portal to bolster its frontcourt this offseason after losing Mouhamed Dioubate, Brandon Garrison and Andrija Jelavic to the transfer portal and Jayden Quaintance to the NBA draft.
Some other past UK portal targets also announced their commitments Sunday.
VCU sophomore guard Terrence Hill Jr. picked Tennessee as his next college stop. Hill averaged 15.0 points per game this past season for the Rams.
Robert Morris sophomore forward DeSean Goode committed to Miami after averaging 15.2 points and 8.7 rebounds per game during the 2025-26 season for the Colonials. Goode was the Horizon League’s player of the year this past season.
Alex Wilkins commits to Kentucky basketball
The biggest news from the weekend was Wilkins’ commitment to the Wildcats.
A 6-5 scoring guard, Wilkins is the second player to commit to the Cats from the portal this offseason, joining Washington sophomore guard Zoom Diallo.
Wilkins — who averaged 17.8 points and 4.7 assists per game during a breakout freshman season at Furman — is now set to partner with Diallo in Kentucky’s backcourt for the 2026-27 season.
247Sports ranks Wilkins as the No. 41 player in the transfer portal. His high-scoring exploits for the Paladins this past season included scoring 20 or more points in 14 games. Notably, Wilkins went for 21 points against UConn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
With Wilkins’ commitment, the Wildcats now have eight projected players for next season’s team.
UK basketball waits on Donnie Freeman
Kentucky was on commitment watch with Wilkins, who took a recruiting visit to Lexington this past week.
Now, the attention shifts to Syracuse sophomore forward Donnie Freeman, who remains a candidate to commit to UK after visiting the Wildcats.
Freeman — a 6-9 player who averaged 16.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game this past season for the Orange — has seen a recent shakeup in his portal recruitment. Alabama and UConn had been in the mix for Freeman, but both programs have moved on.
While that leaves Kentucky in a seemingly favorable position with Freeman, St. John’s and Tennessee are both making a late play for him.
Freeman is ranked as the No. 15 player in the transfer portal.
The Wildcats are in contact with new players from the portal
New names are still being connected to Kentucky out of the transfer portal.
Two players that have recently popped up on UK’s radar are Florida Atlantic sophomore forward Devin Williams and Southern California junior center Gabe Dynes.
Williams is a 6-10 native of California who began his college career at UCLA. After appearing in just 10 games for the Bruins during the 2023-24 season, Williams stayed at UCLA and redshirted the 2024-25 season.
He hit the portal last year and landed at FAU, where Williams enjoyed an impact season with the Owls. Williams — who is ranked as the No. 242 player in the portal — averaged 7.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
Williams’ rim protection credentials are also noteworthy. He averaged 2.6 blocks per game this past season and had 85 total rejections on the season. That blocks per game mark ranked fifth nationally, and the total blocks number was the seventh most in the country.
Williams started all 33 games for the Owls this past season.
The 7-5 Dynes is a Kentucky native who went to Simon Kenton High School in Independence. He began his college career with two seasons at Youngstown State, where he was mainly a bench contributor while offering lockdown rim protection.
As a sophomore with the Penguins, Dynes led the nation in blocks with 104 rejections during the 2024-25 season.
Dynes — who was a two-time Horizon League all-defensive team selection while at Youngstown State — also mainly came off the bench this past season at Southern California, where he averaged 2.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game across 30 appearances.
Dynes plans to visit Kentucky on Wednesday, according to On3.
Jasper Johnson, D.J. Wagner make commitments from portal
This weekend saw a pair of ex-Cats make their transfer portal choices for the 2026-27 season.
Jasper Johnson — a freshman on this past season’s UK squad who averaged 4.9 points and 1.6 assists in 12.0 minutes per game during the 2025-26 season — committed to Oregon.
Johnson, who 247Sports ranks as the No. 151 player in the transfer portal, will join a Ducks program that went 12-20 this past season. Johnson is one of seven players from the 2025-26 Kentucky team to enter the transfer portal this offseason.
From that group, the only player yet to announce their next school is junior forward Mouhamed Dioubate.
D.J. Wagner — who started at point guard for the Wildcats during the 2023-24 season, which was John Calipari’s final campaign as the Kentucky coach — also made his portal commitment over the weekend.
Wagner is heading to Maryland for his senior year. This will be the first time that Wagner plays for a college head coach who isn’t Calipari. Over the past two seasons playing for Calipari at Arkansas, Wagner averaged 9.3 points and 3.0 assists per game for the Hogs.
Wagner is the No. 159 transfer portal player.
