After a busy day, what’s the next move for UK basketball in the transfer portal?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky is in search of its first commitment this offseason from the transfer portal.
- Mark Pope’s program is recruiting BYU’s Rob Wright III, Colgate’s Jalen Cox and others.
- Several players from this past season’s UK team have found new schools from the portal.
The news is coming fast and heavy out of the NCAA transfer portal.
We’re now well into the period in which in-person contact is allowed between college coaches and transfer portal players, and Kentucky is jockeying for position with several top portal options.
Mark Pope’s program is hosting several players for recruiting visits this week. The Wildcats have plenty of roster space available for next season and plenty of talent to replace from this past season’s squad.
UK has yet to secure a commitment from a player out of the transfer portal, but that could change in the coming days.
Here’s the latest news on Kentucky basketball’s recruiting efforts.
UK basketball hosts Rob Wright, Tyran Stokes for recruiting visits
This week is positioned as the biggest recruiting week of the offseason for Kentucky.
The Wildcats are starting the week by hosting a pair of potential major offseason additions in BYU sophomore guard Rob Wright III and top-ranked high school senior Tyran Stokes.
The 6-foot-1 Wright — who averaged 18.1 points, 4.6 assists and 1.2 steals per game for the Cougars during the 2025-26 season — is the top point guard available in the transfer portal and as the No. 6 overall portal player, according to 247Sports.
The Cats need to land a starting point guard from the transfer portal this offseason. Junior guard Jaland Lowe and freshman guard Jasper Johnson both entered the portal from this past season’s Kentucky team. On Monday, Lowe announced his commitment to Georgetown after playing just nine games for the Wildcats due to a series of right shoulder injuries. Johnson is still in the portal, and Alabama is the favorite to land him.
Pope already has a high school commitment from four-star point guard Mason Williams, who is expected to be a depth piece on next season’s Kentucky team.
On Monday, UK officially announced the oft-reported hiring of Mo Williams, Mason’s father, as an assistant coach. Mo Williams has agreed to terms on a two-year contract with Kentucky.
In addition to Wright, UK is also hosting Stokes, a 6-7 small forward who is the consensus top recruit in the 2026 high school class. Stokes is one of only two five-star recruits in the 2026 class without a college home for next season. His recruitment is perceived to be down to Kansas and Kentucky. Those two schools have taken turns as the reported leader for Stokes in recent months.
While Stokes will command a significant NIL and revenue-sharing investment, he is viewed as a game-changing talent who will make an immediate impact on college basketball next season. Kentucky hasn’t landed the top high school recruit in the country since Skal Labissiere in 2015.
Kentucky basketball, Mark Pope are recruiting other portal players
Stokes and Wright are far from the only players UK is recruiting.
Jon Rothstein reported Monday Kentucky is expected to host Colgate junior guard Jalen Cox for a visit this week. A native of Los Angeles, Cox has been a consistent starter at Colgate for the past three seasons.
The 6-3 Cox averaged 17.9 points, 5.3 assists, 5.2 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game for the Raiders during the 2025-26 season. Those were career bests across the board for Cox, who is ranked as the No. 159 available player in the portal.
Cox will also visit Creighton and Maryland this week, Rothstein reported. Other schools in contention for Cox include SMU, Utah and Villanova.
Kentucky is also expected to get a visit this week from Syracuse sophomore forward Donnie Freeman, who averaged 16.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game this past season for the Orange.
UK’s pursuit of Freeman features an international basketball connection. Kentucky assistant coach Mikhail McLean previously coached Freeman with the Bahamas national team when it attempted to qualify for the 2024 Olympics.
The 6-9 Freeman is a former five-star recruit and 2024 McDonald’s All-American who was born in the Bahamas before being raised in Washington, D.C.
Freeman — who turns 21 years old in August — is ranked as the No. 16 available player in the portal.
Additionally, 247Sports reports Kentucky made an in-person visit to Yale sophomore forward Isaac Celiscar over the weekend. The 6-6 Celiscar averaged 13.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game for the Bulldogs this past season while connecting on 40.7% of his 3-point tries.
Celiscar is ranked as the No. 91 portal player.
Kentucky students are sending a message to recruits
A house on Maxwell Street near the Kentucky campus has become the encapsulation of the UK fanbase this offseason.
Banners hanging from the home advocate for three of Kentucky’s top offseason targets — Freeman, Stokes and Wright — to pick the Wildcats.
Sigma Chi fraternity members took a do-it-yourself approach to creating and hanging the banners, which read, “Come Home Rob,” “Come Home Stokes” and “Come Home Donnie.” There’s also a growing social media presence connected to the display. An account on X called “Kentucky Banner Boys” had more than 2,500 followers as of Tuesday.
Kentucky assistant coaches Mikhail McLean and Mo Williams visited the banner house over the weekend.
Ex-Cats make their college choices from NCAA transfer portal
Seven players from the 2025-26 Kentucky team have hit the transfer portal this offseason.
From that group, five players have already announced their next college stops.
Over the weekend, Denzel Aberdeen returned to Florida, Andrija Jelavic committed to Ohio State, Collin Chandler announced he’s heading to BYU and Brandon Garrison chose Alabama.
Aberdeen will need a waiver from the NCAA in order to play a fifth season of college basketball.
On Monday morning, Lowe picked Georgetown.
That leaves Johnson and junior forward Mouhamed Dioubate as the two players remaining in the portal. Alabama is considered the favorite for Johnson. Dioubate reportedly will take a visit to St. John’s on Tuesday.
Former Kentucky portal targets make college commitments
Plenty of players have been connected to Kentucky during portal season. Some of these players were in exploratory talks with UK last week, before in-person recruiting visits began. Others were tied to the Wildcats even before they officially entered their names into the portal.
Several of these players are now making their college choices.
Virginia Tech freshman guard Neoklis Avdalas is going to North Carolina as part of new head coach Michael Malone’s first Tar Heels team. Oregon junior forward Kwame Evans Jr. is heading to Villanova. Butler junior guard Finley Bizjack has committed to West Virginia.
Avdalas is ranked as the No. 22 portal player, while Evans is the No. 41 portal player and Bizjack is No. 51.
Elsewhere, former UK recruit Somto Cyril is heading to Miami after two productive seasons at Georgia. Cyril was originally signed to play at Kentucky as part of the 2024 high school recruiting class before former UK coach John Calipari departed the program.
Miami is also the favorite to land Acaden Lewis out of the transfer portal. Lewis was signed to play at UK as part of Pope’s first complete high school recruiting class in 2025, but Lewis backed out of that commitment during the offseason and instead played his freshman year at Villanova.
