Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats have officially missed out on one of their top transfer portal targets. On Tuesday afternoon, highly sought-after guard Lamar Wilkerson announced his commitment to Indiana, ending speculation about a potential move to Lexington. The 6-foot-5 Arkansas native had taken visits to both Indiana and Kentucky before ultimately choosing the Hoosiers over the Wildcats.
Wilkerson, who spent the past three seasons with Sam Houston, emerged as one of the top scorers in college basketball. During the 2024–25 campaign, he averaged 20.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game, shooting an efficient 47.7% from the field and an impressive 44.5% from beyond the arc. A former community college player, Wilkerson developed into a premier offensive weapon, earning First-Team All-Conference USA honors for the second straight year.
Ranked as the No. 40 overall player in the transfer portal by 247Sports, Wilkerson also ranked 13th in NCAA Division I last season in made three-pointers, converting 109 of 245 attempts. His consistency was unmatched—he was one of only five players nationwide to score at least 10 points in every game throughout the season. Others on that list include Long Beach State’s Devin Askew, New Mexico’s Donovan Dent, Southeastern Louisiana’s Sam Hines Jr., and Marquette’s Kam Jones.
Wilkerson becomes the fourth transfer addition for new Indiana head coach Darian DeVries this offseason. He joins former Davidson forward Reed Bailey, as well as Tucker DeVries and Conor Enright, both of whom played under DeVries at Drake before transferring to West Virginia and DePaul, respectively. Notably, Bailey had also been a target for Kentucky earlier in the transfer cycle.
With Wilkerson off the board, attention now turns to what Kentucky’s roster will look like heading into the 2025–26 season. Fortunately for the Wildcats, much of their core is already secured. The team currently projects to have 12 scholarship players, including five returnees from last year: guards Collin Chandler and Travis Perry, forward Trent Noah, center Brandon Garrison, and guard Otega Oweh. Garrison recently reaffirmed his commitment to return to Lexington.
Kentucky has already brought in four portal additions this spring: forward Mouhamed Dioubate (from Alabama), guard Jaland Lowe (from Pittsburgh), big man Jayden Quaintance (from Arizona State), and wing Kam Williams (from Tulane). Despite a recent decommitment from high school standout Acaden Lewis, the Wildcats are still expecting at least three new freshmen to join the squad next season.
Two of those incoming freshmen, guard Jasper Johnson and center Malachi Moreno, are highly regarded prospects. Johnson, a left-handed guard, is ranked No. 18 in the 2025 class by the 247Sports Composite. Moreno, who hails from Kentucky, was selected as a McDonald’s All-American. The Wildcats have also landed a commitment from Andrija Jelavic, a 6-foot-11 center from Croatia. Jelavic, who turns 21 this year, has been playing professionally for Mega MIS in Serbia.
Kentucky remains active on the recruiting front as well. The Wildcats are still in the running for Nate Ament, a five-star power forward from Virginia. Ament is considering five schools: Arkansas, Duke, Kentucky, Louisville, and Tennessee. While Wilkerson may have slipped through their fingers, the Wildcats are still expected to pursue another guard to round out next season’s roster as Coach Pope finalizes his rotation.
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