Kentucky basketball roster 2026-27, latest on Mark Pope's offseason

LEXINGTON — Heading into his first season as Kentucky basketball 's coach, Mark Pope inherited no players from his predecessor, John Calipari . So Pope went to the transfer portal to build his roster in 2024-25. Entering his second campaign, he retained four players from Year 1: guards Otega Oweh and Collin Chandler along with forwards Brandon Garrison and Trent Noah .

How many players from UK's 2025-26 roster will be back next season is up in the air. But after the season-ending loss to Iowa State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament , Pope revealed his intentions. "Retention is a big part of this, and we have good young players.

You think about, you're starting a first-year center and a first-year power forward and a sophomore 2-guard," Pope said, referring to center Malachi Moreno , international forward Andrija Jelavić and Chandler. "It wasn't the plan coming into the season, but it's what we ended up with, and those guys have gained some great experience and they're going to get better and better and better. "We'll start there and kind of build out from there.

" Moreno revealed his designs for the future Monday : He'll test the NBA draft waters while retaining his college eligibility. Should he withdraw from the draft, Moreno said he'll return for another season at UK . The Wildcats were guaranteed to lose at least two players, as Oweh and fellow senior Denzel Aberdeen are out of eligibility.