Where ex-Wildcats will play during 2025-26 season

Numerous former Kentucky basketball players recruited by John Calipari still are active in college basketball.Ex-Wildcats Bryce Hopkins and Zvonimir Ivišić have found success after leaving Lexington.Recent transfers Travis Perry and Kerr Kriisa were part of Mark Pope’s first UK team.

LEXINGTON — Only two players from Mark Pope’s first Kentucky basketball team elected to enter the transfer portal after last season ended.

Yet the number of ex-Wildcats still floating around in college hoops is in double figures. That’s because there are 10 players with eligibility remaining who were brought to UK by longtime coach John Calipari. (And there’s one other former Calipari player in the transfer portal as of Sept. 13.) For all the focus on players transferring to and fro these days, such is the modern landscape.

Roster churn is inevitable.

And it might become even more pronounced in the years to come now that the scholarship limit in men’s hoops has grown from 13 to 15.

Here’s a glance at the former Wildcats playing in 2025-26:

Time at UK: Three seasons (2019-20 through 2021-22)

2024-25 stats: 7.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1 assist in 24 minutes per game (32 appearances; 17 starts)

Of note: Dontaie Allen on April 8 hit the transfer portal for the third time in his college career. He’s still looking for a landing spot for next season. After his three seasons at UK — he sat out the 2019-20 campaign after tearing his ACL in December 2018 — Allen played for Western Kentucky for two seasons (2022-23 through 2023-24). He suited up for Wyoming in 2024-25.

Time at UK: One season (2020-21)

2024-25 stats: 18.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.5 steals in 36.1 minutes per game (32 appearances, all starts)

Of note: Devin Askew is coming off — by far — his best season as a collegian, leading the Big West Conference in assists and minutes per game as well as free-throw percentage (88.6). Askew also paced Long Beach State in points per outing. He aims to finish his college career with a bang after joining Villanova, which is seeking to return to relevance in the Big East, and nationally, after Kyle Neptune’s tenure came nowhere close to matching that of his predecessor, Jay Wright.

Time at UK: One season (2023-24)

2024-25 stats: 6 points and 2.7 rebounds in 16.9 minutes per game (22 appearances; five starts)

Of note: Arguably no player on this list has achieved less — relative to expectations — than Aaron Bradshaw. He was a five-star signee in UK’s top-ranked 2023 recruiting class. But after transferring to Ohio State prior to last season, he wasn’t allowed to take part in team activities for almost a month after the university opened an investigation into an alleged domestic incident at his off-campus apartment. In his first game back, he had 11 points off the bench to help OSU stomp UK in the CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden. Yet that was the high point of his season, as he didn’t start a game after the calendar turned to 2025. After transferring to Memphis, he’ll attempt to restart his career under NBA legend Penny Hardaway. Yet it’s clear Bradshaw is at a crossroads. He has all the potential in the world. But will he ever make good on it?

Time at UK: One season (2023-24)

2024-25 stats: 5.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.8 steals, 0.5 blocks in 18.6 minutes per game (34 appearances; 11 starts)

Of note: A well-down-the-bench reserve in his only season at UK, Jordan Burks had a far more prominent role for Georgetown in 2024-25. Nowhere was this more true than the Hoyas’ final nine games, all of which Burks started. Seven of his nine double-digit scoring performances occurred in that nine-game stretch to cap the season. That increased role wasn’t enough to convince him to return for another season in the nation’s capital, however. Instead, he’ll don the black and gold of Central Florida, playing for Duke legend Johnny Dawkins.

Time at UK: Two seasons (2021-22 and 2022-23)

2024-25 stats: 8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.6 blocks in 20.4 minutes per game (30 appearances; 22 starts)

Of note: Once a five-star signee for the Wildcats in the Class of 2021, Daimion Collins had a breakout season for LSU in 2024-25. He averaged personal bests in almost every noteworthy statistical department. As well as he played for the Tigers last season, an even bigger season might be in store for Collins at South Florida — squaring off against American Athletic Conference clubs will be far easier than the grind of the rough-and-tumble SEC he’d grown accustomed to nightly.

Time at UK: One season (2020-21)

2024-25 stats: 1.3 points and 1.1 rebounds in 4.2 minutes per game (11 appearances, no starts)

Of note: Cam’Ron Fletcher has had a run of bad luck in recent seasons. He suffered a knee injury in December 2023 that ended his season at Florida State after only seven games. Fletcher then entered the transfer portal and joined Xavier. But the injury didn’t help him make much of a dent with the Musketeers; he only had two games in which he played 10-plus minutes and failed to notch a double-digit scoring output. Fletcher now is part of a High Point program that has enjoyed immense success the past two seasons, with a combined record of 56-15 and consecutive Big South regular-season titles. The coach for that two-year run of prosperity, however, is gone: Alan Huss returned to Creighton to become the coach-in-waiting upon Greg McDermott’s retirement. Fletcher will learn under Huss’ top assistant, Flynn Clayman, who ascended to the head-coaching chair the day after his boss’ departure.

Time at UK: One season (2023-24)

2024-25 stats: 2.4 points and 1.3 rebounds in 10.9 minutes per game (29 appearances; one start)

Of note: Joey Hart was a superstar at little Linton-Stockton High in Indiana, propelling the school to a 29-2 record and a spot in the state’s Class 2A state final in 2023. But the college game has been an adjustment. He scored only three points for UK in 2023-24. None of his numbers at Ball State last season jump off the page. But stats per 40 minutes are trending upward. And he still has two more seasons to keep refining his game.

Time at UK: One season (2021-22)

2024-25 stats: 17 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal in 30.3 minutes per game (three games, all starts)

Of note: At this point, what praise hasn’t been lavished upon Bryce Hopkins? Simply put, when he’s healthy, he’s a difference-maker. As talented (and efficient) as any player in college basketball. In 50 games at Providence the past three seasons, he averaged 15.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. He shot 45.2% from the field. A gem of St. John’s highly touted transfer portal haul, Hopkins joins former UK coach Rick Pitino as they endeavor to guide the program back to the Final Four for the first time since 1985.

Time at UK: One season (2023-24)

2024-25 stats: 9.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1 assist and 2.1 blocks in 19.3 minutes per game (11 games)

Of note: How close was Zvonimir Ivišić to returning to UK last season? Perhaps we’ll never know. Ultimately, the decision paid off for him. With no NCAA eligibility saga hanging over his head, the Croatian affectionally known as “Big Z” scored in double figures 16 times and two games of 10 (or more) rebounds last season. Most impressively, he had 13 games with at least three blocks; he had more games with multiple blocks (20) than outings of one or zero rejections (15). Now at Illinois, the 7-foot-2 Ivišić will form a towering front line with his twin brother — 7-1 Tomislav Ivišić.

Time at UK: One season (2024-25)

2024-25 stats: 4.4 points, 2.4 rebounds per game, 3.8 assists in 17.4 minutes per game (nine appearances; one start)

Of note: When Kerr Kriisa is healthy, he’s electric. He led the Pac-12 in assists in back-to-back seasons and has posted multiple triple-doubles as a collegian. A foot injury limited him to just nine games in his lone season at Kentucky in 2024-25; the Estonian will be motivated for a bounce-back campaign to wrap up his college career.

Time at UK: Two seasons (2022-23 and 2023-24)

2024-25 stats: 2.8 points and 2.4 rebounds in 11 minutes per game (24 appearances; two starts)

Of note: Perhaps another change of scenery will help Ugonna Onyenso. The last one didn’t. Despite arriving in Manhattan, Kansas, with high expectations, the Little Apple was sour for Onyenso last season. He struggled to make much of a difference for the purple Wildcats. Onyenso will try to rebuild his career after joining Virginia and first-year coach Ryan Odom.

Time at UK: One season (2024-25)

2024-25 stats: 2.7 points, 0.8 rebounds per game, 0.6 assists in 9.7 minutes per game (31 appearances, four starts)

Of note: The all-time leading scorer in the history of Kentucky’s high school ranks, Travis Perry had a solid season as a freshman reserve at UK in 2024-25. But he’ll look to earn far more minutes this season after transferring to Ole Miss, where he hopes to carve out a role as a sharpshooter on coach Chris Beard’s defensive-minded squad.

Time at UK: One season (2023-24)

2024-25 stats: 11.2 points, 2.7 rebounds per game, 3.6 assists in 34.6 minutes per game (36 appearances, all starts)

Of note: It would have been hard for D.J. Wagner’s 2024-25 campaign to be much better. He was the only Razorback to start every game, logging 26 games of at least three assists (including 13 outings of five or more) to go along with double-figure scoring outputs in 22 contests. He’ll aim to improve further this season in his third year playing under Calipari.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.