Kentucky basketball is hosting two transfer portal players on recruiting visits
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- UK is hosting Justin McBride and Gabe Dynes on recruiting visits from transfer portal.
- McBride is a junior forward from James Madison and Dynes is a junior center from USC.
- Former UK basketball portal target Terrence Brown has committed to North Carolina.
The NCAA transfer portal is closed for new entries.
Tuesday night was the deadline for players to enter the portal with the goal of choosing a new school to play for in the 2026-27 season. More than 2,500 players entered the portal before the deadline, including some major last-second additions such as Baylor’s Tounde Yessoufou.
Some other names could still come out in the next two days as entries are processed. Commitments from portal players will continue to be announced in the coming weeks.
That’s good news for Mark Pope, because his Kentucky program is still in need of some major talent acquisitions.
The Cats’ projected 2026-27 roster still sits at only nine players following the Tuesday addition of Zyon Hawthorne, the younger brother of UK returnee Braydon Hawthorne.
UK is pursuing both starting-level talent and depth pieces from the portal, as well as from the high school and international recruiting pathways.
That process continues Wednesday as UK hosts two players from the portal on recruiting visits to Lexington.
Kentucky to host Justin McBride, Gabe Dynes for recruiting visits
James Madison junior forward Justin McBride and Southern California junior center Gabe Dynes will both be on UK’s campus Wednesday.
McBride — a 6-foot-7 frontcourt player who previously played at Oklahoma State and Nevada — averaged 15.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game for the Dukes this past season. He converted on 40.0% of his 3-point tries on an average of 3.1 attempts per game from deep.
It was a breakout season for McBride, who had a bench role at his prior college stops. McBride started 30 of James Madison’s 33 games this past season.
247Sports ranks McBride as the No. 203 player in the portal.
During his lone season at James Madison, McBride played for former Morehead State head coach Preston Spradlin, who spent five seasons on John Calipari’s Kentucky coaching staff from 2009-2014. Spradlin served as a graduate assistant coach and as director of operations while at UK.
Dynes is a Northern Kentucky native who was a former prep basketball standout at Simon Kenton.
A 7-5 center, Dynes played two seasons at Youngstown State before spending his junior year at Southern Cal.
Dynes was a Horizon League all-defensive team selection in each of his seasons with the Penguins. As a sophomore at Youngstown State, Dynes led the country in blocks with 104 rejections during the 2024-25 season.
This past season with the Trojans, he averaged 2.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game. 247Sports doesn’t have Dynes ranked among the top transfer portal players.
Should he commit to the Cats, Dynes would become the tallest basketball player in UK history, according to Big Blue History.
Kentucky is also scheduled to host Washington State junior guard Jerone Morton for a recruiting visit Friday. Morton began his college career at Morehead State and was a star high school player locally at George Rogers Clark.
Former UK portal target Terrence Brown commits to North Carolina
Utah junior guard Terrence Brown emerged as a transfer target for Kentucky during portal season. He was supposed to take a visit to UK this past Friday, but On3 reported that visit was postponed due to a personal situation with Brown’s family.
That visit won’t be rescheduled, because Brown committed to North Carolina on Tuesday.
The 6-3 Brown averaged 19.9 points and 3.8 assists per game this past season for the Utes. 247Sports ranks Brown as the No. 44 player in the portal.
Now, Brown is set to join head coach Michael Malone’s first North Carolina squad. The Tar Heels have also picked up a commitment from Virginia Tech freshman guard Neoklis Avdalas, who also received early portal interest from Kentucky.
Avdalas is the No. 21 player in the portal and averaged 12.1 points and 4.6 assists per game this past season for the Hokies.
How many ex-Cats entered the NCAA transfer portal?
At the start of the 2025-26 season there were 13 former Kentucky players still playing college basketball at other schools.
Some of those ex-Cats — such as center Ugonna Onyenso and guard Kerr Kriisa — closed their college careers this past season and appear pointed toward the next stage of their respective basketball journeys. Others from this group — such as forward Jordan Burks (Central Florida) and center Zvonimir Ivisic (Illinois) — are set to remain at their current schools for next season.
But, some players have chosen to hit the transfer portal again. Four of these ex-Cats entered the portal this offseason, and two have already announced their next schools.
Travis Perry — a member of Pope’s first Kentucky squad during the 2024-25 season — went in the portal again after spending one season at Ole Miss. After averaging 5.3 points and making 35.3% of his 3-pointers as a sophomore this past season, Perry entered the portal and has announced his commitment to Dayton for the 2026-27 season.
D.J. Wagner — who was Kentucky’s starting point guard during the 2023-24 season, which was Calipari’s final season as the UK coach — is transferring from Arkansas to Maryland for his senior year. Wagner followed Calipari to Arkansas in 2024, and he spent the past two seasons playing for the Razorbacks. Wagner is coming off a junior year in which he averaged 7.4 points and 2.4 assists per game.
Devin Askew and Aaron Bradshaw both entered the transfer portal this week and have yet to commit to new programs.
Askew has already played six seasons of college basketball, but he’s entered the transfer portal in the hopes of being able to play a seventh. Askew — who began his college journey at Kentucky during the 2020-21 season — has also made stops at Texas, California, Long Beach State and most recently Villanova.
This past season at Villanova, Askew averaged 9.8 points and 2.6 rebounds per game in a reserve role. Askew made 40.6% of his 3-point tries. Both of Askew’s seasons at California were shortened due to injury.
Bradshaw, a former five-star prospect in the 2023 high school recruiting class, has played for three schools in as many years. He was also part of Calipari’s final Kentucky team before spending the 2024-25 season as a sophomore at Ohio State and the 2025-26 season as a junior at Memphis.
Bradshaw averaged 8.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game this past season with the Tigers.
This summary didn’t include the seven members of the 2025-26 Kentucky team — Denzel Aberdeen, Collin Chandler, Mouhamed Dioubate, Brandon Garrison, Andrija Jelavic, Jasper Johnson and Jaland Lowe — who entered the portal in recent weeks. All seven of these players have committed to their next college homes.
