UK is pursuing the younger brother of an NBA standout in its 2027 recruiting
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- UK basketball has 10 scholarship offers out to players in the 2027 recruiting class.
- One of those players is Beckham Black, a 6-foot-3 point guard.
- Black is ranked as the No. 5 overall player in the 2027 class and as the No. 1 point guard
Kentucky basketball’s efforts with the 2026 high school recruiting class are just about over, and the end results aren’t pretty.
Currently, Mark Pope’s Cats are only bringing in two players from the traditional high school ranks for the 2026-27 season. UK’s top ranked recruit is four-star point guard Mason Williams, a son of new assistant coach Mo Williams and a player who 247Sports ranks as the No. 110 overall prospect in the 2026 class. The other is Zyon Hawthorne, a combo guard and younger brother of UK freshman forward Braydon Hawthorne. Zyon is unranked by the major recruiting services.
That’s a far cry from the high school recruiting success Kentucky has enjoyed in modern times.
Pope’s program swung and missed on a number of national, five-star prospects in the 2026 recruiting cycle, and the Cats can’t afford a repeat of this with the 2027 class.
One player Kentucky has focused on with its early 2027 recruiting efforts is Beckham Black, a 6-foot-3 floor general whom 247Sports ranks as the No. 3 overall player in the class. He’s expected to be a contender this summer to move into the No. 1 overall ranking for the 2027 class.
“Just a pass-first point guard, really. I love to get my teammates involved. I love passing the ball, love averaging a lot of assists. Just the small point guard things that not a lot of point guards do anymore,” Black told the Herald-Leader last month at a USA Basketball junior national team minicamp. “If that’s defense, if that’s passing, scoring, whatever my team needs me to do to win, that’s what I’m going to do.”
Black — who plays prep basketball at Southeastern Prep in Orlando, Florida — said he’s working on building a relationship with the Kentucky coaching staff.
“It’s been great, hear a lot from them. So just working on building relationships with all of them, and we’ll see where it goes,” Black said.
Black said Kentucky’s pitch to him has been similar to that of other programs that are recruiting him. He holds offers from Arkansas, Georgetown, Southern California and Texas, among a long list of other schools.
“I mean, really, kind of the same thing everybody’s saying. They’ll trust me from day one. So it’s great to hear that from all the coaches,” Black said. “But just got to build those relationships to see who I can trust down the line.”
Beckham Black is the younger brother of a breakout NBA player
The early stages of Black’s college recruitment have seen some interesting programs surge to the front.
There’s an obvious connection between Black and Arkansas. That’s where his older brother, Anthony Black, played the 2022-23 season as a five-star high school recruit before being selected with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft. At that time, Arkansas was coached by Eric Musselman, who is now the head coach at Southern California.
The older Black just wrapped up his third NBA season with the Orlando Magic. He recorded career-best averages of 15.0 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game this season for Orlando.
“I’ve learned to be a leader, I’d say,” Beckham Black said of what he’s learned from Anthony over the years. “No matter what, no matter who you’re playing with, use your voice, because I have a strong voice. So just making sure I use my voice. Always leading, and the most important thing is always trying to win. No matter how, it has to happen. Just making sure we’re trying to win.”
Black has tried to take advantage of the basketball opportunities afforded to him thanks to his brother’s success in the sport. While the brothers are at different stages in their respective basketball journeys, they both live in Orlando.
“(With) him being in the NBA, I’ve met a lot of NBA players, so that’s cool,” Black said. “Seeing how he works out, I mean he’s a pro, so seeing how pros work out, getting to watch other pros work out.”
Black singled out meeting Indiana Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard, who played collegiately at Florida and Gonzaga, as a standout moment.
Black is also being recruited by Texas, which is his home state school. Prior to transferring to Southeastern Prep in Florida, Black was a standout at Duncanville High School near Dallas, where his older brother also played.
Recently, Black took a recruiting visit to Washington, D.C. to visit Ed Cooley’s Georgetown program. The Hoyas haven’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2021.
Black’s Southeastern Prep team this past season featured plenty of UK basketball recruiting intrigue.
From the 2027 class, Southeastern rostered Black and CJ Rosser, whom 247Sports ranks as the No. 2 prospect from that recruiting group. Southeastern also featured three players who are five-star prospects in the 2026 class, including Obinna Ekezie Jr., a 7-foot center who recently committed to Louisville from a group of finalists that included UK.
Ekezie had previously been in the 2027 recruiting class, but he reclassified to the 2026 group when making his college choice.
“It definitely gave me a look at the next level, because up until this last year I hadn’t been playing with five stars,” Black said of his experience sharing the court with so many talented teammates at Southeastern Prep. “I come to a school where I’m playing with four other five-stars, so just learning how to play with people better than me, people as good as me. Just got to figure out what I can do differently to set myself apart from everybody who’s as good as me and better than me.”
Kentucky is also recruiting Rosser. Just last week, Pope and UK assistant coach Mikhail McLean checked in on Rosser with an in-home visit.
When this happens, do recruits share thoughts among themselves about the recruiting process?
“We all kind of talk about it. What we’re looking for and where we want to go,” Black said. “Talk about what schools might be better for the different type of players that we are, so just little things like that.”
