Presented By Chess Game 50th Season at Rupp Arena Inside: 2025-26 OFFICIAL KENTUCKY BASKETBALL YEARBOOK BASKETBALL 2526 ®© 2025 The Coca-Cola Company. “Coca-Cola” is a registered trademark of The Coca-Cola Company. ISTHIRSTYWORK FAN WORKOfficial Grocer of UK Athletics IN EVERY AISLE LOW PRICES Scan to learn more.2025-26 Wildcats 20Denzel Aberdeen 22Collin Chandler 24Mouhamed Dioubate 26Brandon Garrison 28Braydon Hawthorne 30Walker Horn 32 AndrijaJelavić 34Jasper Johnson 36Jaland Lowe 37Malachi Moreno 38Trent Noah 39Otega Oweh 40Reece Potter 41Jayden Quaintance 42Zach Tow 43Kam Williams Coaching Staff 46Head Coach Mark Pope 48Associate Head Coach Alvin Brooks III 49Associate Coach Mark Fox 50Assistant Coach Cody Fueger 51Assistant Coach Jason Hart 52Assistant Coach Mikhail McLean 2025-26 Opponents 54Nicholls 55Valparaiso 55Eastern Illinois 56Louisville 58Michigan State 60Loyola (Md.) 62Tennessee Tech 64North Carolina 65Gonzaga 66North Carolina Central 67Indiana 68St. John’s 69Bellarmine 70Alabama 71Missouri 72Mississippi State 73LSU 74Tennessee 75Texas 76Ole Miss 77Vanderbilt 78Arkansas 79Oklahoma 80Florida 81Georgia 82Auburn 83South Carolina 84Texas A&M University & Tradition 86University of Kentucky 88President Eli Capilouto 90Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart 93Hall of Fame 94Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center 96Kentucky in the NBA 104Kentucky in the NBA Draft 107Kentucky in the NCAA 108Kentucky in the SEC 110Unparalleled Tradition 113Retired Jerseys 114All-Americans 117UK Sports Network 2025-26 Kentucky Basketball Yearbook is published by the University of Kentucky Athletics Department. University of Kentucky Athletics Director: Mitch Barnhart Communications and Public Relations: Deb Moore, Greg Welsh 410 West Vine St., Suite 150 Lexington, KY 40507 859-230-4372 UK Sports & Campus Marketing Powered by JMI Sports Brandon Baker, Curtis Burch, Brent Carney, Randy Carter, Annie Gillenwater, Devin Jones, Michelle Knezovic, Jensen Linder, Adair Mattingly, Seth Poteat, Kim Ramsay, Lance Reed, Chad Ruhl, Nadia Steinbicker, Saige Sutterlin, Brad Tucker Design & Publishing Managing Editor Jai Giffin Creative Director Jamie Barker Production Assistance Laura Doolittle, Lisa Roberts On the Cover Top Row (L-R): Denzel Aberdeen, Collin Chandler, Mouhamed Dioubate, Brandon Garrison, Braydon Hawthorne, WalkerHorn,AndrijaJelavić, Jasper Johnson. Botton Row (L-R): Jaland Lowe, Malachi Moreno, Trent Noah, Otega Oweh, Reece Potter, Jayden Quaintance, Zach Tow, Kam Williams. Chess Game Kentucky’s deep and versatile roster gives Mark Pope options as Kentucky looks to build upon last season’s success. 4 50th Season at Rupp Arena A look back at 20 of the most exciting Kentucky games played in Rupp Arena since 1976. 8 2025-26 KENTUCKY BASKETBALL CONTENTS 2 n @KentuckyMBBBy Tom Leach “Voice of the Wildcats” Kentucky’s deep and versatile roster gives Mark Pope options as Kentucky looks to build upon last season’s success. CHESS GAME@UKSportsNetwork n 5 I f I took 10 good basketball minds to one of the practices for the upcoming edition of the Kentucky men’s basketball team, I’d guess most would agree on Otega Oweh as the No. 1 player. I don’t think there would be much of a consensus for the remainder of the top 10 list. That’s both a blessing and a chal- lenge for head coach Mark Pope. Pope had little time to build a roster of transfers and freshmen players for his first Kentucky roster last year. As the season un- folded, he, then, had to manage a longer than usual list of injury issues. By the end of the season, though, Pope’s Wildcats had set a record for most wins over Associated Press top-15 teams and achieved a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. “He took a group of players last year who had not played together previously, some having never played on the power conference level and molded them into a team that pos- sessed great rhythm and great chemistry,” said CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jon Rothstein. “That’s an impressive skill as a head coach. All these different pieces coming to tradition-rich Kentucky and uniting together to be a really good basketball team who won multiple games in the NCAA Tour- nament.” Evan Miyakawa has a doctorate in statis- tics and operates a website devoted to deep dives into the analytics of the college game (evanmiya.com). He says Pope’s work in year one at his alma mater was not fully appreciated. “Pope made it look easy to get an en- tirely new roster and make it look like these guys had been playing together for awhile,” Miyakawa says. “The reality is there were six major Division I programs (last season) who had an entirely differ- ent roster that returned no minutes from the previous season. Kentucky was successful with its rebuild, the rest of them were not,” Miyakawa continued. “The only other team in that group of six who even made the (NCAA) tour- nament was Louisville. What Pope was able to do in getting that team to click so quickly is not the norm, it’s the exception to the norm. That only makes it more impressive what Kentucky was able to accomplish.” In year two, Pope has a constructed a roster that is as deep as it is versatile. Given the num- ber of times the Wildcats are shown in presea- son top-10 polls, others are noticing this fact as well. “One of the things that you’re always con- cerned about is where is the leadership going to come from. But that was probably a ques- tion last year and they had great leadership, especially from Lamont Butler,” said ESPN’s Jay Bilas. “Mark (Pope) and his staff did a great job last year, and throughout his coaching ca-6 n @KentuckyMBB reer, of identifying efficiencies in recruiting and guys that are maybe not seen as not the best player but maybe he’s really good at this (particular skill). “One of the things that stood out to me was Ansley Almonor. Mark said he graded out as one of the best cut- ters even though he was not (ranked) in the top 50 or top 100 of transfers in the portal,” Bilas contin- ued. “Mark puts pieces to- gether to fit what they want to do and I’m really excited to see what this group of individual players is going to turn into as a team. Giv- en the track record of how things went last year, I’m looking forward to seeing if it turns out as well as the roster suggests it could be and I think it will.” As a player at Kentucky, Pope was the captain of one of the sport’s all-time great teams in the 1996 season. Then, head coach Rick Pitino built a similarly deep roster so that the top sev- en players (six of whom later played in the NBA), averaged between 18.8 and 26.9 min- utes. Ten players on the roster played in at least 34 of the 36 games that season. It is no doubt fun for fans to debate the best combinations of Kentucky players for the upcoming season, given the depth of tal- ent and versatility that Pope has assembled. But for the guy in charge of making those decisions about who to put on the court, how long to keep them out there and who works best together, that is no easy task. “Whether he can keep everybody happy,” said Chris Dortch, publisher of the Blue Ribbon Col- lege Basketball Yearbook when asked to name his biggest question mark for the Wildcats this season. Dortch says the fact that “minutes” is his biggest concern, though, is proba- bly a good sign. “I can’t really pick apart this team. When you’re as deep as Kentucky, I think Coach Pope will find a way. He’s been willing to go 10 Brandon Garrison and Otega Oweh return from last season's Kentucky team that advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16. Collin Chandler and Trent Noah will provide experience at the guard position. @UKSportsNetwork n 7 deep, 11 guys if he needs to,” Dortch said. “What I like most about him is that he’s a ‘players coach’. He’s going to get what he wants out of his players but at the end of the day, they’re going to say ‘we love this guy because he gives us the freedom we need to perform as bas- ketball players’. I think he realizes some of the old ways of motivating players have gone out with short shorts and canvas high- top (sneakers).” Pope leans heavily on analytics not only in coaching games, but in building his team. The kenpom.com site ranked the Wildcats 10th nationally in offensive efficiency last season but 51st on the defensive side. In SEC play, Kentucky was 13th of 16 teams in defensive efficiency. For the upcoming season, there appears to be a clear emphasis on shoring up the defense. Evanmiya.com has Jayden Quaintance ranked No. 1 in terms of projected defensive impact this coming season, while fellow newcomer Mouhamed Dioubate is No. 4 on that list. They will join two returning players who ranked high in defensive capability in Oweh and Brandon Garrison. “Obviously, we know Mark Pope’s strength and emphasis is offense but he’s really made a point of going to get guys who are going to raise the defensive talent and shore up that side and I think that’s a really good approach,” said Miyakawa. Pope will continue to develop the of- fense when it comes to pace of play, 3-point shooting and utilizing the talent he’s as- sembled. Veteran college basketball writer Mike DeCourcy says one of the interesting aspects of this Kentucky team is if Oweh, who has the potential to be SEC Player of the Year, embraces the challenge of being “the guy,” i.e. the Cats’ best player and all that comes with that from fan expectations to opponents’ game plans. “Kentucky’s most important element this year, perhaps even more than how well Jaland (Lowe) plays, is how well does Oweh embrace the role of the primary option,” De- Courcy explained. “Being ‘the guy’ is an ac- quired skill. It’s something you need to work at and it’s difficult for a team to succeed at the highest level in college basketball with- out someone willing to do that. Somebody or a couple of some bodies. You have to have guys willing to take that on.” DeCourcy says even on a team as deep and talented as Kentucky’s 1996 group, se- nior Tony Delk was that guy, most notably against Syracuse who played a perplexing 2-3 zone in the national championship game. Oweh was the most impactful transfer, in somewhat of a surprise, last season. Who might carry that title for Pope’s sec- ond team? DeCourcy is bullish on Lowe, a transfer from Pitt, and how he will flour- ish at Kentucky in the all-important point guard role. Bilas said Dioubate’s versatility makes him an intriguing addition. My UK Sports Network broadcast partner, Jack “Goose” Givens, says Florida transfer Den- zel Aberdeen is better than advertised, especially as a shooter. Then there’s tall, sharp- shooting Kam Williams from Tulane and he’s been mentioned in some of the early 2026 NBA mock draft lists. Returning wing players like Trent Noah and Collin Chandler have generated consistent compliments from Pope during summer workouts and then there’s a highly-regarded four- some of signees in Europe- an Andrija Jelavić, Jasper Johnson, Malachi Moreno and Braydon Hawthorne, along with big man transfer Reece Potter from Miami, Ohio. That gives you an idea of the talented “chess pieces” Pope has at his disposal. That leads to high expectations, but when are they low for the Wildcats? “The expectation has nothing to do with me setting it. It’s what it is at Kentucky and it’s one of the things that sets us apart from every other program in the country. I happen to love it. I love every bit of it,” Pope said ear- lier this summer. “I’m so grateful to be here in this environment. That’s where I want to be and that’s where our guys want to be. It comes with all the complications you could imagine but as an athlete, those are the complications you want to sign up for.” In year two, head coach Mark Pope has constructed a roster that should be as deep as it is versatile. Transfer Jaland Lowe is expected to see time in the point guard role in 2025-26.Next >