Kentucky basketball hosts more visitors from the NCAA transfer portal
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- UK basketball has its first transfer portal commitment from Washington guard Zoom Diallo.
- Mark Pope’s Wildcats are hosting more players from the portal for recruiting visits.
- Colorado’s Sebastian Rancik, Furman’s Alex Wilkins are latest visitors for Kentucky.
Mark Pope’s Kentucky basketball program is positioning itself to land more commitments from the NCAA transfer portal.
The Wildcats picked up their first portal commitment Wednesday night when Washington sophomore guard Zoom Diallo pledged to join the Cats for the 2026-27 season.
Could more commitments be on the way?
The Wildcats hosted two more players from the portal on recruiting visits Thursday, and plenty of attention is still focused on another visitor from earlier this week.
Here are the latest transfer portal updates for UK.
Sebastian Rancik, Alex Wilkins visit UK basketball
The Wildcats hosted a pair of visitors in Lexington on Thursday.
Colorado sophomore forward Sebastian Rancik and Furman freshman guard Alex Wilkins were both on recruiting visits to Kentucky.
Rancik is a 6-foot-11 frontcourt player who averaged 12.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game for the Buffaloes during the 2025-26 season. Rancik, who is originally from Slovakia, shot 33.1% from 3-point range on an average of more than four attempts from deep per game. He spent both of his college seasons so far at Colorado.
Rancik was a four-star recruit in the 2024 high school class, according to the 247Sports Composite. As a transfer, 247Sports ranks Rancik as the No. 96 player in the transfer portal.
Wilkins is a high-scoring guard who averaged nearly 18 points per game this past season as a freshman at Furman. The 6-5 Wilkins also averaged 4.7 assists per game for the Paladins, who qualified for the NCAA Tournament after winning the Southern Conference Tournament.
Wilkins impressed on the March Madness stage, scoring 21 points in Furman’s first-round NCAA Tournament loss to eventual national runner-up UConn. Wilkins scored 20 or more points in 14 games this past season for Furman. He’s ranked as the No. 41 player in the portal.
Rancik and Wilkins both posted on social media during their Kentucky visits, which included time spent on UK’s court at Rupp Arena.
Hofstra junior guard Cruz Davis was reportedly in the process of setting up a visit to Kentucky, but he committed to Texas Tech on Thursday night. Davis is a volume scorer who averaged more than 20 points per game this past season as Hofstra made its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2001.
UK basketball awaits portal decision from Donnie Freeman
Earlier this week, UK hosted Syracuse sophomore forward Donnie Freeman on a recruiting visit.
Freeman’s time in Lexington came and went without a commitment, but plenty of attention is focused on Freeman’s eventual portal choice.
Freeman averaged 16.5 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 31.3 minutes per game this past season at Syracuse, although he’s dealt with foot injuries during each of his college seasons with the Orange.
Currently, the 6-9 Freeman is ranked as the No. 15 player in the portal.
While point guard was UK’s top position of need entering the offseason — something that was addressed, in part, with Diallo’s commitment Wednesday — the Wildcats also need to bolster their frontcourt through the portal.
UK forwards Mouhamed Dioubate, Brandon Garrison and Andrija Jelavic all entered the transfer portal this offseason. Dioubate is still in the transfer portal, and St. John’s is the school trending the most for him. Garrison has committed to Alabama and Jelavic has committed to Ohio State.
Jayden Quaintance — who was Kentucky’s top transfer portal addition last year before playing in just four games for the Wildcats — has declared for the 2026 NBA draft.
UK has four frontcourt players in place for next season’s roster: Forwards Braydon Hawthorne, Trent Noah and Reece Potter, along with center Malachi Moreno, who has entered his name in this summer’s NBA draft.
Moreno has announced that if he’s playing college basketball next season, it will be at Kentucky. Moreno has until May 27 to withdraw from the NBA draft and maintain his NCAA eligibility.
Missouri is making major transfer portal additions
As the winners and losers of transfer portal season are determined, Missouri is emerging as a team to watch for the 2026-27 season.
Head coach Dennis Gates’ Tigers have picked up three commitments from the portal so far this offseason, and the most significant came Wednesday in the form of Kansas freshman forward Bryson Tiller.
The 6-11 Tiller was a four-star high school recruit who averaged 7.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game for the Jayhawks this past season. Tiller, who was a regular starter for Kansas during the 2025-26 campaign, is ranked as the No. 34 portal player.
Missouri also has portal commitments from Providence freshman forward Jamier Jones (No. 39 in the portal rankings) and Tennessee junior forward Jaylen Carey (No. 188). The Tigers have also emerged among the leaders in the portal recruitment of former UK guard Jasper Johnson.
Gates’ program is also bringing in significant talent from the high school ranks for next season. The Tigers’ three signees in the class of 2026 are five-star guard Jason Crowe Jr., five-star power forward Toni Bryant and four-star small forward Aidan Chronister. Crowe is a former UK recruit.
Gates has led Missouri to the NCAA Tournament in three of the past four seasons, but the Tigers haven’t advanced to a Sweet 16 since 2009.
Former UK guard Travis Perry makes portal choice
Former Kentucky guard Travis Perry will be playing for a third school in as many seasons.
On Thursday night, Perry committed to Dayton out of the transfer portal.
Following his lone season at UK, Perry transferred to Ole Miss for the 2025-26 season. Perry averaged 5.3 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game this past season as a sophomore.
Now, he will play his junior year for Anthony Grant’s Dayton program.
Perry — who won the 2024 Kentucky Mr. Basketball award at Lyon County — is ranked as the No. 235 transfer portal player. Perry is still the all-time leading scorer in Kentucky high school boys basketball history.
