Another John Calipari player is leaving Kentucky. This one plans to stay in the NBA draft.
“I’m not thinking about coming back to play college basketball,” he said. “I’m 100% focused on the NBA.” The transfer portal closes on May 1, and any players who have not entered their names by that point would remain with their current schools if they returned to college basketball. The final NBA draft deadline is May 29. Onyenso played sparingly as a freshman — arriving on campus just before the start of the 2022-23 academic calendar — before emerging as the Wildcats’ starting center in year two despite missing the entire preseason and the first month of games with a foot injury suffered over the summer.
He averaged 3.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.8 blocked shots in 18.6 minutes per game, making 14 starts in 24 appearances as a sophomore. He made his debut in the Cats’ win over North Carolina on Dec. 16 and blocked 10 shots in a victory over Ole Miss two months later, setting a new UK record for most blocks in a game in Rupp Arena and tying the overall mark held by Navy’s David Robinson, who swatted 10 Kentucky shots in a loss in Lexington in 1987. Onyenso is the latest Kentucky player to leave the program in the wake of John Calipari’s departure. The longtime UK coach stepped down last week after 15 years with the Wildcats to take over the Arkansas Razorbacks’ program.
All three of UK’s 7-footers from this past season — Aaron Bradshaw, Zvonimir Ivisic and Onyenso — have now announced that they’re leaving the program. Bradshaw, who entered the transfer portal last week, committed to Ohio State on Monday. Ivisic announced Saturday night that he was entering the portal, and the 7-2 forward from Croatia revealed Monday that he is going to transfer to Arkansas to play a second season under Calipari.
Pope was officially named the new head coach of the Cats on Friday, and he was introduced to UK fans in a ceremony at Rupp Arena on Sunday afternoon. So far, none of the 10 players with remaining eligibility from the 2023-24 Kentucky team have pledged to return to the Cats and play for Pope next season, though that is not necessarily a surprise. Calipari was expected to lose at least half of that group — including Onyenso — even if he’d returned for a 16th season.
Earlier on Monday, freshman point guard D.J. Wagner entered the transfer portal. Sophomore forward Adou Thiero and freshman guard Joey Hart were already in the transfer portal. Fellow freshman Rob Dillingham and Justin Edwards have already declared for the NBA draft.
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