‘He’s got tremendous upside.’ UK basketball recruits elite class of 2027 center
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- Kentucky basketball has offered scholarships to four players in the 2027 recruiting class.
- One of these class of 2027 recruits is center Obinna Ekezie Jr., a 7-foot-1 prospect.
- UK coaches watched Ekezie play this summer at the NBPA Top 100 Camp and at Nike Peach Jam.
Following the completion of the July evaluation period, news is coming thick and fast as it pertains to Mark Pope and the recruiting outlook for his Kentucky basketball program.
Scholarship offers are being dished out to rising high school seniors. Those same class of 2026 recruits are beginning to trim their lists of schools under consideration and lock in official visits for later this year. Some elite prospects from the 2026 recruiting class are already making their college commitments.
Just this week, UK has already hosted an intriguing international prospect for a recruiting visit.
But there’s at least one area where Pope and the Wildcats, for now, appear relatively content to hold their ground and survey the recruiting scene.
UK has still extended only four scholarship offers to prospects in the 2027 recruiting class. That’s the fifth fewest number of scholarships offered to class of 2027 prospects among the 16 SEC schools, ahead of only Florida (zero), Vanderbilt (one), Arkansas (two) and Oklahoma (two). Mississippi State’s astounding 29 scholarship offers to class of 2027 recruits leads the conference.
Kentucky has only extended one scholarship offer to a class of 2027 prospect since June 15, when college coaches were first allowed to directly contact players from this recruiting group. That came on Monday, when UK offered a scholarship to Marcus Spears Jr., a 6-foot-8 power forward and a son of the former NFL player of the same name.
Spears aside, the other three class of 2027 prospects with UK scholarship offers — forwards Baba Oladotun and CJ Rosser and center Obinna Ekezie Jr. — are longtime UK targets. Oladotun and Ekezie were offered UK scholarships by Pope last September. Rosser has held a Kentucky offer since May.
For now, it seems UK is choosing to focus on this small group of prospects and establish early recruiting relationships with them and their families. It’s a decision backed up by the rankings: Each of Oladotun (No. 1), Rosser (No. 3), Ekezie (No. 4) and Spears (No. 6) are ranked among the top 10 recruits in the 2027 class by the 247Sports Composite.
Kentucky basketball makes early push for Obinna Ekezie Jr.
Oladotun and Rosser have both spoken to the Herald-Leader before about their early interest in Pope and the Cats. There will be time in the future to assess Spears’ connections to Kentucky. Now, it’s time to take a deeper look at what intrigues UK about Ekezie, a 7-foot-1 center who recently transferred to Southeastern Prep in Orlando.
Ekezie’s basketball pedigree is unquestioned.
Originally from Nigeria, Ekezie is a son of Obinna Ekezie Sr., a former college basketball standout himself. A 6-foot-9 center, the elder Ekezie played 118 career games at Maryland and was a second-round selection in the 1999 NBA draft.
Ekezie went on to play for five NBA teams (and appear in 143 NBA games) during his professional career. He then founded the basketball academy in Nigeria where his son first developed his on-court skills.
Flash forward a few years, and the younger Ekezie has now emerged as one of the most coveted prospects in the 2027 recruiting cycle.
Kentucky has gotten the chance to get eyes on Ekezie in several top evaluation settings this summer. In June, the Wildcats were four deep to watch Ekezie and other prospects in action at the NBPA Top 100 Camp in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Pope was joined by UK associate head coach Alvin Brooks III, assistant coach Cody Fueger and assistant coach Jason Hart at that camp.
In July, UK was able to get another look at Ekezie at Peach Jam, the season-ending Nike Elite Youth Basketball League event that’s held in North Augusta, South Carolina. Pope was joined by Brooks and Hart for that annual recruiting showcase.
Ekezie played for Vegas Elite on the 16-and-under Nike circuit this year, although he was limited to only nine games due to an injury. Ekezie averaged 9.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.4 blocks.
“He’s been doing great. He’s (got) a great attitude and he’s got tremendous upside,” Brian Sitter, one of Ekezie’s coaches with Vegas Elite, told the Herald-Leader. “His biggest strength on the court is he’s 7-foot-1. And he’s an athletic 7-1. He’s not a stiff.”
Even at this early stage of Ekezie’s recruitment, there are a couple of connective threads that Kentucky could pull at. After moving to the United States, Ekezie spent his eighth-grade year in Louisville before settling into prep school life in California and now Florida. The Wildcats also recently extended a scholarship offer to class of 2026 small forward Maximo Adams, a four-star recruit who played for Vegas Elite’s 17-and-under team this year.
“He’s learning, he’s been more of a role player in the past. Kind of a big who just got out of the way and cleaned up rebounds,” Sitter — who is the founder and executive director of the Vegas Elite program — said of Ekezie. “We’re trying to help him make that transition to more of a go-to type player on the offensive end. Defensively, he blocks shots, he changes shots. He’s amazing for us in the middle on defense. And he’ll continue to get to get better at that.”
“Offensively, he’s in that transition of learning how to find post position and read defenses and things like that, but he’s doing a great job,” Sitter added.
Ekezie recently told 247Sports that he’s a fan of Pope’s program, and specifically the fact that Pope is a former college and NBA big man. Ekezie also indicated that he’d like to go one-and-done at the college level.
Pope is only one season into his Kentucky coaching tenure, but he’s already established a high level of play for big men in Lexington. Amari Williams showcased his versatility at center for the Wildcats last season and was rewarded by being an NBA draft pick earlier this summer.
Returnee Brandon Garrison and incoming transfers Mouhamed Dioubate and Jayden Quaintance, along with first-year college players Andrija Jelavic and Malachi Moreno, have led many to project the frontcourt as a strength for UK next season.
There’s also the still-recent evidence of what Pope was able to do with talented big men during his coaching tenure at BYU, with former Cougar and current Louisville player Aly Khalifa a prime example.
Ekezie’s college decision likely won’t be made for at least another year, if not longer. By that point, Pope will have several recruiting classes at UK under his belt, and the second-year Kentucky coach seems to be growing more comfortable each day with the expectations that come with recruiting to Kentucky.
“I think that the feel here is that we’re squarely in the process of accomplishing special things here. I think that’s generally the vibe,” Pope said recently, acknowledging that it feels different recruiting to UK now compared to a year ago. “I think that people have faith in Kentucky basketball, and that’s the way it should be and it’s always been.”
One destination that’s likely to draw plenty of recruiting interest from Pope and the Wildcats in the coming months?
Ekezie’s new school, Southeastern Prep, which now features both Ekezie and Rosser as additions for the 2025-26 season. As such, two of the four players from the 2027 recruiting class with UK offers are now high school teammates.
This story was originally published July 31, 2025 at 6:30 AM.
