Caleb Wilson makes his commitment. UK misses out on elite five-star basketball recruit.

Kentucky basketball has missed out on its top remaining recruiting target in the class of 2025.

Early on Friday morning, Caleb Wilson — a five-star power forward in the 2025 recruiting class — committed to North Carolina over UK.

Wilson — who made his college choice on the “NBA on TNT” program following the broadcast of an NBA game between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers — also recently had Ohio State among his final schools under consideration.

The commitment to North Carolina came at 1:22 a.m. EST.

“I was able to build a good relationship with (the coach). Looking at the roster, and also just seeing how much the coach believed in me over the time he knew me,” Wilson said on air about the factors that led to his UNC commitment.

Wilson is a 6-foot-9, 205-pound prospect who is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 6 player in the high school senior class. He’s now the third member of North Carolina’s 2025 recruiting group.

Head coach Hubert Davis also has a pair of four-star combo guards, Derek Dixon and Isaiah Denis, signed in the 2025 class. At 6-foot-9, Wilson will bring a distinct skill set to the Tar Heels. Wilson has the size and length of a post player, but he’s spent recent years focusing on his perimeter game, and in particular his ball-handling skills.

“Wilson has shown indicators of upside across his offensive game. Perhaps what stands out the most about his offensive game is how well suited it is for playing off of other stars and how comfortable he is doing so,” Zach Welch, an analyst for Pro Insight Basketball, told the Herald-Leader about Wilson.

“Some of his most standout traits on this end are his passing, rebounding and his ability to attack the rim. These are all well suited for him to play a complementary role. ... A lower-usage role will allow him to maximize his two-way impact and continue to grow on the offensive end, as well.”

Missing out on Wilson is a significant blow for head coach Mark Pope and the Wildcats, despite the already solid 2025 recruiting class that UK has inked.

Kentucky’s three-player 2025 high school recruiting class consists of left-handed guards Jasper Johnson and Acaden Lewis, and center Malachi Moreno. But Wilson — who projects as a one-and-done college player and as a likely first-round selection in 2026 NBA draft — would have given Pope a standout recruiting win in his first proper high school recruiting class.

Wilson would have been the highest-ranked player to ever commit to Pope, as his high school recruiting profile surpasses those of every player that Pope has successfully recruited to Utah Valley, BYU and now Kentucky. Wilson’s commitment to North Carolina means that Johnson remains the highest-rated recruit to ever commit to Pope from the high school ranks.

Wilson’s decision to commit to North Carolina will also sting because UK was, at one point, considered the favorite to land a commitment from him.

Kentucky found itself in pole position in Wilson’s recruitment following the Atlanta native’s official visit to UK in September. That recruiting visit included UK football’s home game against Georgia, time spent watching a UK basketball practice and a stop at Keeneland.

That visit was a major moment in Wilson’s recruitment by the Wildcats, which began under former head coach John Calipari. It was Calipari who first offered a UK scholarship to Wilson in June 2023. Later that year, Wilson was a visitor in October to Big Blue Madness, the annual Kentucky basketball kickoff event at Rupp Arena.

But Pope — who became UK’s head coach in April after Calipari’s offseason departure to Arkansas — started slowly when it came to courting Wilson himself. That changed over the summer and fall, culminating with that September official visit to Lexington.

Wilson was also on hand in November at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena for Kentucky’s comeback win against Duke in the Champions Classic.

But as Wilson’s recruitment shrunk in scope — he cut his list to five schools in November, with Central Florida and Tennessee also included before they were eliminated from consideration this month — Kentucky’s position atop the recruiting race for him began to slip.

Recent developments led North Carolina to be considered the favorite to land Wilson’s commitment. This was highlighted by 247Sports national basketball analyst Travis Branham, who is known for his precise recruiting predictions, logging a “Crystal Ball” prediction for Wilson to commit to the Tar Heels on Jan. 18.

This prediction came true early Friday.

Kentucky basketball misses on recruitment of Caleb Wilson

As a result of missing out on Wilson, a knock against Pope on the recruiting trail could persist.

The first-year Kentucky coach has never overseen an NBA draft pick before at the college level. Wilson was viewed as the Kentucky recruit in the 2025 class most likely to change that fact.

UK’s three signees in the 2025 class are all ranked in the top-35 by the 247Sports Composite. Johnson is a five-star prospect who is ranked as the No. 18 national prospect in the class. Moreno is ranked No. 29 and Lewis is No. 31.

All together, this group ranks as the sixth-best high school recruiting class in the nation, per the 247Sports Composite. UK is behind Duke, Houston, UConn, Arkansas and Notre Dame, in that order.

There’s still plenty of space for Pope to fill on his 2025-26 roster as well. Seven players from this season’s Kentucky roster are expected to be out of NCAA eligibility at season’s end.

The only current UK scholarship players who will still have eligibility after this season are guards Collin Chandler, Otega Oweh and Travis Perry, forward Trent Noah and center Brandon Garrison. Oweh recently appeared on ESPN’s 2025 NBA draft Big Board, but he was well outside of draft-pick status.

This means Pope can continue to mine the 2025 recruiting class, both domestically and internationally, as well as the upcoming transfer portal for future Wildcats.

Kentucky is still under consideration from two other five-star prospects in the 2025 recruiting class. Nate Ament — a five-star power forward who is ranked as the No. 4 overall player in the 2025 recruiting group — recently listed UK among his top 11 schools.

In addition to UK, Ament is also still considering going to Alabama, Arkansas, BYU, Duke, Georgetown, Kansas State, Louisville, Notre Dame, Tennessee and Texas.

Ament should now be considered the top recruiting target remaining for UK in the 2025 class. He’s also one of four five-star recruits left in the 2025 class who are still yet to commit to a school.

Two of the other five-stars still on the board — combo guard Brayden Burries and power forward Koa Peat — are not considered to be UK targets at this time.

Shooting guard Alijah Arenas, the son of former NBA player Gilbert Arenas, owns a Kentucky scholarship offer and recently reclassified from the 2026 recruiting class to the 2025 recruiting group.

Arenas is the No. 7 overall player in the 2025 class. Branham, the 247Sports national basketball analyst, recently report that Kentucky is alongside Arizona and Southern California as the three schools at the top of Arenas’ recruitment.

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