With Kentucky Basketball still searching for its next point guard(s), we’ve got an update on one of the bigger names currently in the transfer portal.
Well, at least it’s an update on the school believed to be Kentucky’s primary competition for Washington point guard Zoom Diallo, who visited Lexington over the weekend. While the Wildcats were unable to secure his commitment, they did get a bit of good news on Monday.
That’s because Arizona, viewed as the biggest threat to keep Diallo from Kentucky,
landed commitments from a pair of point guards in North Carolina’s Derek Dixon and, ironically, fellow Washington guard JJ Mandaquit.
Dixon is the bigger name between the two after appearing in 33 games (16 starts) as a true freshman this past season for the Tar Heels, eventually becoming the starting point guard.
Mandaquit, meanwhile, appeared in 22 games (six starts) while primarily being the backup point guard behind Diallo.
While this doesn’t necessarily take Arizona out of the running, it does add to the point guard equation for the Big 12 Wildcats. It’s certainly something to consider as we potentially hit the home stretch in the recruitment of Diallo, who has yet to schedule another visit following his trip to Kentucky.
Elsewhere, another point guard option has emerged for Kentucky, who has reached out to Hofstra transfer Cruz Davis, according to Jeff Goodman. He’s also heard from Kansas, Florida, Alabama, Louisville, Texas, BYU, and Texas Tech.
The 6-3, 170-pound Davis began his career at Iona under Rick Pitino, then followed the former UK head coach to St. John’s for one season before entering the portal and landing at Hofstra. Davis only played in four games with the Red Storm before missing the rest of the season and securing a medical redshirt, which is why he has one season of eligibility remaining.
This past season, the Texas native averaged 20.1 points on 44% shooting (40% on 5.9 3-point attempts per game), 4.7 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game. He’s currently ranked 29th overall and ninth among point guards at 247 Sports.
Kentucky desperately needs to secure one of these top point guards. BYU’s Rob Wright is currently taking a visit, so hopefully, it’ll be sooner rather than later that we see Mark Pope get his guy to run the offense more effectively next season than we saw this year due to Jaland Lowe’s injury.
