Canadian prep basketball star Will Riley to make college commitment. Will he pick UK?
One of new Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope’s early recruiting targets is set to come off the board this weekend.
And the Wildcats are in the running to earn his commitment.
On Sunday afternoon, class of 2025 five-star small forward Will Riley will make his post-high school basketball playing decision.
A 6-foot-8, 180-pound prospect who has been strongly linked with a reclassification to the 2024 recruiting group, Riley will be picking between Alabama, Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky, and the New Zealand Breakers of the National Basketball League (NBL), the top professional men’s basketball league in Australia and New Zealand.
Riley is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 15 overall prospect in the 2025 recruiting class. Earlier this year, Riley was named the MVP of the Basketball Without Borders Global Camp during NBA All-Star Weekend.
Riley cemented his place as Pope’s first major recruit at Kentucky when Riley took an official visit to Lexington in early June.
The Canadian is considered one of the elite scorers in the 2025 class, and he’s been turning heads this spring with his distinct scoring style while playing for Canada-based UPlay on the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) circuit.
Through 15 Nike EYBL regular-season games, Riley ranks sixth on the circuit in scoring at 21.9 points per game. Riley is also one of the circuit’s assist leaders (2.5 per game).
Riley — who plays prep basketball at The Phelps School in Pennsylvania — also owns one of the most impressive individual performances of the Nike EYBL season so far: Last month, he erupted for 42 points on 15-for-16 shooting (along with five assists against just one turnover) during a game in the third Nike EYBL regular-season session in Indiana, which took place in front of college coaches and recruiters.
Pope and his new Kentucky coaching staff made Riley a priority at that event, which marked the first major recruiting weekend for Pope as UK’s head coach. Pope and Kentucky assistant Jason Hart watched Riley play at that EYBL stop last month in Indiana.
Riley has averaged nearly 26 points across the four games he has played during that EYBL session.
A versatile offensive threat, Riley is shooting 49.6% from the field and 31.7% on 3-pointers with UPlay this season. He’s put up a fair amount of shots as well with at least 15 attempts in nine of UPlay’s 15 games.
Will Riley set to make college commitment on Sunday
In addition to the recruiting trip Riley took to Kentucky earlier this month, he’s also made recruiting stops to see Arizona, along with Alabama and Illinois (both also in June).
Whether Riley chooses to stay in the 2025 recruiting class or makes the jump to the 2024 group, UK has the space to take him.
Pope’s first Kentucky basketball roster for the 2024-25 season currently features 14 players, with 12 of 13 scholarship spots filled. UK doesn’t have any commits in the 2025 class.
Should he elect to come to Kentucky, Riley would add to an already-notable list of Canadian-born players at UK. That group totals seven players, with standout names such as Jamaal Magloire (1996-2000), Trey Lyles (2014-15), Jamal Murray (2015-16) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2017-18).
Riley will be making his college commitment Sunday afternoon at RIM Park in Waterloo, which is located in the Canadian province of Ontario. Waterloo is located about 75 miles west of Toronto.
This story was originally published June 21, 2024 at 6:45 AM.
