Mark Pope is doing work in the portal. But is Kentucky still missing one thing?
Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope and players Lamont Butler and Andrew Carr talk to the media after the Wildcats’ 78-65 loss to Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament on March 28, 2025, in Indianapolis. Mark Pope wanted physicality. He got it. Pope wanted defense. He got it. Pope wanted length and athleticism and a roster that could go toe to toe with the biggest and baddest that the SEC — and the rest of college basketball — had to offer on the basketball court. He got all of that, too. Kentucky’s coaches have been doing some major work in the transfer portal in recent days, and the result is a projected 2025-26 roster that should be able to square up with the SEC’s fiercest competition and not get knocked off its spots when the going gets tough next season. Physicality was a problem at times during Pope’s first year as the head coach of the Wildcats, who could run an offense as pretty as any in the country — when it was on — but could also be bullied around. The final example of that came on the final night of the season, when Tennessee reversed the result of the first two games in the series — both UK victories — and bounced the Cats from the NCAA Tournament by wearing them down from the opening tip. Defensive rebounding was a recurring issue all season long, and — while Kentucky’s overall defense did improve during the final few weeks of the season — Pope’s team finished at No. 51 nationally in defensive efficiency, according to the KenPom ratings. That’s far lower than the UK coaching staff’s expectations, and the Cats have made moves to correct the issue this spring. Among UK’s transfer portal additions: 6-foot-7 forward Mouhamed Dioubate, 6-8 wing Kam Williams and 6-10 post player Jayden Quaintance, a trio of newcomers who should go a long way in solving the Cats’ struggles with length and physicality on the defensive end. Kentucky will also return 6-4 guard Otega Oweh — one of the team’s top defenders this past season — as well as 6-10 forward Brandon Garrison, who possesses the strength and potential to battle with the SEC’s biggest players on the block. That’s a formidable group that should lead to a shift in the overall dynamic of Kentucky’s approach on the court. Dioubate and Quaintance, especially, could be game-changers on the defensive end. Dioubate, who played the past two seasons at Alabama, ranked No. 2 nationally in box defensive BPR — a stat that measures a player’s defensive value based solely on his individual stats — behind only Johni Broome, the SEC player of the year. Quaintance, who has a 7-5 wingspan, averaged 2.6 blocks per game as a freshman at Arizona State — despite playing the entire season at 17 years old — and should add plenty of athleticism and rim-protection to the UK frontcourt. Quaintance will still be recovering from knee surgery when he arrives on UK’s campus, but he is expected to be able to play during the 2025-26 season. He’s projected as a lottery pick in next year’s NBA draft and was ranked No. 9 nationally last season in defensive BPR — an ultimate measure of a player’s overall defensive value to his team — according to the numbers at EvanMiya.com. So, Pope will have a wealth of tantalizing defensive options at his disposal next season. What are the Wildcats missing? On paper, at least, Kentucky sure looks like it could use one more 3-point shooter, especially with the way Pope likes to run his offense. Kentucky head coach Mark Pope has almost completed work on the Wildcats’ 2025-26 roster. Ryan C. Hermens rhermens@herald-leader.com Kentucky’s shooting outlook for 2025-26 It was overlooked due to the timing, but — on the night of the loss to Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament — Pope’s first Kentucky team broke the 32-year-old school record for most 3-pointers in a season with 341. This past season’s Wildcats now rank fourth all-time in school history in both made 3-pointers per game (9.47) and long-range attempts per game (25.28), and the “bombs away” style employed by Pope and longtime assistant Cody Fueger — the “offensive coordinator” of the Wildcats — is very much intentional. The coaching duo took the same approach toward the end of their tenure together at BYU, and they arrived in Lexington looking to shake up the 3-point record books, building their first UK roster accordingly. It’s also a winning strategy. Florida, the 2025 national champions, finished ahead of UK with 9.75 made 3-pointers per game. So did Duke, the title favorites headed into Final Four weekend, with 10.1 makes per game. Another Final Four team, Auburn, which spent much of the season ranked No. 1 nationally, was just behind the Cats with 9.03 made 3s per game. Elite Eight teams Alabama (10.5) and Texas Tech (10.0) were also ahead of UK in that category. But while the 2024-25 roster featured Koby Brea (100 3-pointers the previous season), Ansley Almonor (93) and Jaxson Robinson (81), no player on the projected UK roster for 2025-26 comes close to those numbers. As of now, Williams — a freshman at Tulane this past season — tops the list with 63 3-pointers in 2024-25. Former Pittsburgh point guard Jaland Lowe is next with 41 (at just a 26.6% hit rate), and Oweh comes after that at 27 made 3-pointers in his first year with Kentucky. Now, there’s plenty of long-range upside on the roster that Pope has assembled so far. Collin Chandler was 12-for-23 over Kentucky’s last seven games and should slide into a bigger role in year two. Jasper Johnson, the top-rated freshman in UK’s recruiting class, certainly has the ability to go on 3-point shooting sprees, but it’s difficult to project how a first-year college player will fare from beyond the arc. Fellow freshman guard Acaden Lewis is also capable from outside, though that’s not considered one of his top attributes. Trent Noah and Travis Perry obviously have 3-point shooting ability, but they’ll go into next season projected to be at the bottom of a crowded depth chart. At the moment, there’s just not much of a track record from deep on this Kentucky roster. Relative to the expectations, at least. It’s also clear that Lowe — not the most efficient of point guards at Pitt last season — would likely fare much better in an offense that featured plenty of shooting threats. The skill set of the 6-3 playmaker appears to be one that would thrive in more open spaces, and landing one more skilled shooter to play alongside him could do wonders for Kentucky’s overall scoring attack. Pope still has openings, and there are some intriguing options floating around. Kentucky guard Collin Chandler was 12-for-23 from 3-point range over the team’s last seven games of the season and projects as a key player for the Wildcats in the backcourt moving forward. Ryan C. Hermens rhermens@herald-leader.com UK basketball transfer portal targets? Former Southern Cal guard Wesley Yates III — 54-for-123 (43.9%) as a freshman for the Trojans this past season — could be the right fit. The 6-4, 219-pound guard actually signed with Washington out of high school but sat out the 2023-24 season with an injury before transferring to USC. Yates is a former top 40 recruit and is No. 41 in the 247Sports transfer rankings. Kentucky and Washington are viewed as possible favorites, but a return to the Huskies might be the most likely scenario here. Former Jacksonville State guard Jaron Pierre Jr. — 21.6 points per game and 104-for-272 (38.2%) from deep this past season — continues to come up as a UK possibility, and he’s already had conversations with the Wildcats’ coaching staff. The 6-5, 188-pound guard is No. 37 in the 247Sports transfer rankings. Indiana has emerged in recent days as the favorite for former Sam Houston State guard Lamar Wilkerson — 20.5 points per game and 109-for-245 (44.5%) on 3s in 2024-25 — but there’s been no commitment to the Hoosiers yet, and Kentucky remains in the picture for the Arkansas native. The 6-5, 205-pound guard is No. 45 in the 247Sports transfer rankings. And, though he’s not a guard, former Robert Morris forward Alvaro Folgueiras — 45-for-109 (41.3%) from 3 this past season — still makes sense from a positional standpoint, even with the recent frontcourt additions. Folgueiras — a 6-9, 215-pound player from Spain — is a skilled passer and could help UK stretch the floor even more offensively. He is No. 34 in the 247Sports transfer rankings. And the transfer portal will remain open for new entries until April 22, with additional players of Kentucky-level talent almost certain to jump in between now and then. Pope has done enough with his 2025-26 roster to be incredibly selective from here on out. If he does decide more shooting is necessary — and the numbers certainly seem to indicate that the need is there — Kentucky’s coach should have some worthy candidates in the transfer pool.
