Mark Pope adds top-40 backcourt prospect to Kentucky’s 2025 basketball recruiting class

Mark Pope has landed another talented backcourt recruit for his first proper recruiting class at Kentucky.

On Saturday afternoon, class of 2025 point guard Acaden Lewis committed to Pope and the UK basketball program. Lewis — a 6-foot-2, 170-pound prospect — picked the Wildcats over two other finalists in his recruitment, Duke and two-time defending national champion UConn.

Lewis announced his commitment to Kentucky during an event at the Trinidad Recreation Center in Lewis’ hometown of Washington, D.C. The commitment ceremony was also streamed live on YouTube.

Lewis is Kentucky’s third commitment in the 2025 recruiting class. UK already had a pair of in-state commitments in the 2025 class from guard Jasper Johnson and center Malachi Moreno.

Johnson, who is finishing his prep career at the Overtime Elite program in Atlanta, began his high school basketball career at Woodford County in Versailles. Moreno is a star big man at Great Crossing in Georgetown, and Moreno is the early favorite to be named the 2025 Kentucky Mr. Basketball.

“It’s not a local kid,” David Sisk — a basketball analyst for Rivals who covers both Kentucky and North Carolina — told the Herald-Leader about Lewis committing to UK. “You’re taking (on) UConn, beating them out when they’re at the zenith, really. North Carolina was there, Duke was there. … I think that’s the next step for Mark Pope that he was able to take as a recruiter.”

Lewis is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as a four-star recruit and as the No. 36 overall prospect in the 2025 class. That same service has both Johnson (No. 14 overall) and Moreno (No. 24 overall) as five-star recruits.

Both Lewis and Johnson are left-handed players who will be part of next season’s Kentucky backcourt.

Kentucky’s steadfast recruitment of Lewis — who is considered an elite ball distributor — began earlier this year when Pope and the UK coaching staff took note of Lewis’ play on the Nike grassroots circuit with Team Durant.

On the Nike circuit this spring and summer, Lewis averaged 16.7 points, 6.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Lewis was also an all-star performer at the NBPA Top 100 Camp, which was attended by Kentucky coaches. In that top evaluation setting, Lewis averaged more than 15 points and nearly four assists per game.

Lewis took an unofficial visit to Kentucky in June, during which he picked up his UK scholarship offer. More recently, Lewis was Kentucky’s top visitor for Big Blue Madness on Oct. 11.

Kentucky got the final official visit from Lewis in his recruitment. He took a trip to UConn in September and to Duke in October for the Blue Devils’ annual Countdown to Craziness event.

Pope and the Wildcats were long considered to be in a good position in Lewis’ recruitment. But the Cats also got some breaks along the way to help make Lewis’ commitment seemingly a forgone conclusion.

In late September, UConn got a commitment from five-star guard Darius Adams. In late October, the Huskies added a pledge from five-star guard Braylon Mullins, a former UK recruit.

In October, Duke picked up commitments from guard Cayden Boozer, along with his brother, power forward Cameron Boozer. Those two recruits are the twin sons of former Duke basketball legend and NBA star Carlos Boozer.

This gave both the Blue Devils and Huskies five-star backcourt recruits in the 2025 class. While Kentucky also has one of those in the form of Johnson, the diverse skill set of Johnson should allow him to toggle between an on-ball and off-ball role at the college level.

Johnson and Lewis already have experience playing together: Both took part in a camp run by NBA star Damian Lillard in August in Arizona.

The commitment of Lewis now gives Kentucky three incoming freshmen in the 2025 class, all of whom are ranked in the top 40 of the class by the 247Sports Composite.

Earlier in the week, Lewis previewed his college decision in a SportsCenter NEXT video. His comments about the UK program in that video provided a clear indication of what his choice ultimately was Saturday.

“Kentucky, you’re kind of like betting on Pope,” Lewis said. “I’ll be there his second year. He’ll be losing his whole starting five and his sixth and seventh man. You’re kind of just betting on him being a great coach, him being basketball smart.”

Lewis also praised the style of play he saw from Kentucky when watching Pope’s practices.

“It’s like playing out of basic actions. Just being a good teammate,” Lewis said. “Cutting when (you need) to cut. Not trying hold the ball or anything. I like how Kentucky played. … You can be creative in the offense, do your own thing.”

In that video, Lewis’ parents also shared their thoughts on Kentucky, including perspective on both Pope and his wife, Lee Anne.

“You can see why they’re together,” Lewis added about Mark and Lee Anne’s dynamic.

Lewis also said in the video he believes the plan is for Pope to bring in four freshmen for the 2025-26 season.

Mark Pope continues impressive recruiting run since coming to Kentucky

It’s worth taking a moment to recognize the recruiting run Pope is currently on at Kentucky.

When Pope was hired to coach his alma mater in April, a main concern among UK fans was his track record, or lack thereof, when it came to recruiting.

While there were obvious challenges — financial and otherwise — when it came to recruiting at BYU and Utah Valley, Pope had never before landed a recruit ranked inside the top 35 of the 247Sports Composite.

Prior to his time at Kentucky, the highest-ranked recruit that Pope had landed was current UK freshman Collin Chandler, who was ranked as a four-star guard and as the No. 37 overall prospect in the 2022 recruiting class when he pledged to play for Pope at BYU.

Currently, all three of Kentucky’s commitments in the 2025 recruiting class — Johnson, Moreno and Lewis — would qualify as the best recruit to ever commit to a Pope-led program.

While Pope now has three players lined up to be incoming freshmen at UK next season, the Wildcats still have plenty of projected roster spots to fill.

That’s because seven players from this season’s Kentucky roster will be out of NCAA eligibility at the 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.

In terms of 2025 recruits who hold a reported UK scholarship offer, the Wildcats are still most involved with power forward Caleb Wilson and center Chris Cenac Jr.

Lewis hasn’t been shy about the fact that he’s trying to recruit Wilson to join him at the college level, which now means that Lewis is trying to convince Wilson to come to Lexington.

The two players have exchanged social media posts teasing a potential pairing together in college. Just seconds after Lewis committed to UK on Saturday, Wilson posted on social media in response.

“They’re not direct messages or other forms of social media or apps. They’re texting each other and throwing those teases out there publicly,” Sisk said. “They want people to see that. I do think getting Acaden Lewis helps Kentucky with Caleb Wilson. … Acaden has said all along he’s recruiting Caleb Wilson.”

The 6-foot-9 Wilson would represent a true star addition for Pope and UK. Wilson is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 5 national prospect in the 2025 recruiting class and already projects as a likely lottery pick in the 2026 NBA draft.

Wilson has had an active fall in his recruitment. The Atlanta native has taken official visits to Kentucky, Central Florida, Tennessee, Georgia Tech and Ohio State.

Wilson was set to visit Arkansas and former UK coach John Calipari this weekend, but that trip has been postponed.

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