Kentucky Basketball’s bid to bolster its roster with Donnie Freeman was undone by St. John’s. Could that help lead to a former Red Storm player making his way to Lexington?
According to Sam Kayser, Kentucky has reached out to St. John’s transfer Joson Sanon. Other schools in the mix include Kansas, North Carolina, Alabama, Texas, UCLA, Texas A&M, and Vanderbilt.
A 6-foot-5, 200-pound shooting guard/wing-type player, Sanon began his career at Arizona State as a 5-star recruit ranked 25th overall in the
2024 class, according to 247 Sports Composite. That year, he averaged 11.9 points on 42.2% shooting from the field (36.9% on 4.5 3-point attempts per game), 3.4 rebounds, and 1.0 assists in 28.3 minutes per game while playing the 2-4 spots. He actually tested the NBA Draft waters before ultimately withdrawing.
After entering the portal and landing at St. John’s, Sonon averaged 7.9 points on 33.8% shooting from the field (33.6% on 3.9 3-point attempts per game), 2.4 rebounds, and 0.7 assists in 20.9 minutes per game this past season. He primarily played the 2 while occasionally getting minutes at the 3.
In the Johnnies’ loss to Kentucky, Sanon went 0/5 from the field but 12/12 from the free-throw line to go with two rebounds and two steals before fouling out.
Despite the drop in production, head coach Rick Pitino was effusive in his praise for Sanon.
“I’ve said it all along, Joson is physically the most talented ball player on the team,” Pitino said after St. John’s win over Seton Hall in the Big East Tournament. “He’s only going to grow. He made a big-time play down the stretch defensively, and he’s grown as a defensive player, and that’s exciting because he’s so much better defensively, he’s so much better doing other things, but he is a cold-blooded shooter. I got great confidence in him.”
That definitely sounds like the kind of player Kentucky could use. Sanon does not currently have a ranking at either On3 or 247 Sports, but the latter has him graded as a 4-star transfer prospect with a 91 grade, which would place him in the 99-133 range of those rankings (Sebastian Rancik, for example, is also a 4-star prospect with a 91 grade).
Sanon may not be a true big man, but he’s someone who could give Kentucky depth at the 2-4 spots while also challenging Kam Williams and Braydon Hawthorne to be the starting 3. And at this point, he’s about as good a player as Kentucky could get in the portal that’s not one of the big fish who’s testing the NBA Draft waters.
Will be interesting to see how much of a player Kentucky becomes in this recruitment.
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