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. By NCAA| John Clay
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Mark Pope and Kentucky basketball have missed out on their top target from the NCAA transfer portal.
On Tuesday afternoon, former Sam Houston guard Lamar Wilkerson committed to Indiana.
Wilkerson, a 6-foot-5 guard from Arkansas, took recruiting visits to both Indiana and Kentucky become opting to commit to the Hoosiers over the Wildcats.
Last season at Sam Houston, Wilkerson averaged 20.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting 47.7% from the field and 44.5% from 3-point range. That was his third season with the Bearkats’ program.
A high-scoring senior who began his career at the community college level, Wilkerson is listed by the 247Sports basketball transfer portal rankings as the No. 42 player in the portal.
In each of the last two seasons, Wilkerson has been a first-team All-Conference USA selection at Sam Houston.
Wilkerson went 109-for-245 on 3-pointers last season, which gave him the 13th-most made 3-pointers in all of NCAA Division I men’s hoops. He’s also a career 82.6% shooter from the foul line.
Wilkerson was one of the most consistent scorers in all of college basketball during the 2024-25 season. Only five players scored at least 10 points in all of their teams’ games last season. That list includes ex-Cat Devin Askew (Long Beach State), Donovan Dent (New Mexico), Sam Hines Jr. (Southeastern Louisiana), Kam Jones (Marquette) and Wilkerson.
Wilkerson is the fourth transfer portal addition of the offseason for Indiana. So far, new IU head coach Darian DeVries will be bringing former Davidson forward Reed Bailey, former Drake and West Virginia guard Tucker DeVries and former Drake and DePaul guard Conor Enright to Bloomington.
Bailey was an early transfer portal target for UK.
Wilkerson and the Hoosiers are set to face Kentucky on Dec. 20 at Rupp Arena, in a renewal of the men’s basketball rivalry series between the schools. This will be the first in a four-game, four-year series between Indiana and Kentucky.
UK leads the all-time series between the schools, 32-25. The schools last faced each other in the 2016 NCAA Tournament, when Indiana beat Kentucky 73-67 in the second round.
Lamar Wilkerson averaged 20.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, shooting 44.5% from 3-point range at Sam Houston during the 2024-25 season.
Lamar Wilkerson averaged 20.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, shooting 44.5% from 3-point range at Sam Houston during the 2024-25 season. Trevor Ruszkowski USA TODAY NETWORK
What does the 2025-26 Kentucky basketball roster look like?
What’s next for Pope and the Wildcats?
The good news is that the bulk of Kentucky basketball’s roster for next season is already in place.
Currently, UK projects to have 12 scholarship players in place for the 2025-26 season.
This group includes five expected returnees from last season’s UK squad. Those players are freshmen guards Collin Chandler and Travis Perry, freshman forward Trent Noah, sophomore center Brandon Garrison and junior guard Otega Oweh.
Kentucky has already announced the additions of four players from the transfer portal this spring. Those future Cats are sophomore forward Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama), sophomore guard Jaland Lowe (Pittsburgh), freshman big man Jayden Quaintance (Arizona State) and freshman wing Kam Williams (Tulane).
Despite a recent decommitment from high school recruit Acaden Lewis, Kentucky will still be bringing in at least three first-year college basketball players next season. Two of these players — guard Jasper Johnson and in-state center Malachi Moreno — will arrive via the traditional high school recruiting pathway.
Johnson is a left-handed guard and the No. 18 national recruit in the 2025 class, according to the 247Sports Composite. Moreno was a McDonald’s All-American this year.
UK also recently got a commitment from Andrija Jelavic, a soon-to-be 21-year-old big man from Croatia. The 6-foot-11 Jelavic has played the last two seasons for Mega MIS, also known as Kosarkaski klub Mega Basket and Mega Superbet, a professional team based in Serbia.
Kentucky is still involved in the recruitment of high school senior Nate Ament, a five-star power forward from Virginia. Ament is down to five schools in his college recruitment: Arkansas, Duke, Kentucky, Louisville and Tennessee.
Moving forward, the expectation is still that Pope and the Wildcats will be looking to add one more guard for next season’s UK roster.
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