These transfers are visiting Kentucky as part of a big recruiting weekend for Mark Pope
April has been a whirlwind month for the Kentucky basketball program.
From the departure of longtime head coach John Calipari to SEC rival Arkansas to the hiring of UK alumnus Mark Pope as the Wildcats’ head coach, perhaps no month in modern UK basketball history has shaped the program quite like this one has.
And the fun is just beginning.
Pope is in the thick of assembling his first UK basketball roster for the 2024-25 season. That group already includes four players: Guards Lamont Butler (former of San Diego State), Collin Chandler and Travis Perry and fifth-year transfer forward Amari Williams (formerly of Drexel).
More players, obviously, are needed in Lexington for next season, and this weekend is a massive one in that regard for Pope and the UK program.
Kentucky will be hosting several prominent players currently in the NCAA transfer portal for visits this weekend. Here are the players who are expected to get an up-close look at the Wildcats.
Andrew Carr
A 6-foot-10 forward, Carr began his college basketball career with two seasons at Delaware before playing the last two seasons at Wake Forest.
Carr has made 112 career starts and played in 117 career games in college basketball. He’s averaged at least 10 points and five rebounds per game in each of the last three seasons. He’s a career 34.4% 3-point shooter on significant volume: Carr has made 94 3-pointers as a college player.
Last season with the Demon Deacons, Carr had per-game averages of 13.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks, which were all career highs.
Carr started all 68 games that Wake Forest played during his two seasons at the school, and was a 77.7% free throw shooter.
Per KenPom, Carr ranked in the top 100 in the nation in both true shooting percentage (62.5%, which was 76th in the country) and offensive rating (124.1, which was 84th in the country).
According to college basketball statistician Evan Miyakawa, Carr ranked as the No. 33 overall transfer portal player, as of Thursday night.
Carr was originally an unranked recruit when he went to Delaware as part of the 2020 recruiting class.
Aidan Mahaney
A 6-3 guard, Mahaney has played two seasons of college basketball, both at Saint Mary’s. He’s started 60 of the 69 games he’s played for the Gaels over the last two seasons, including all 34 games that Saint Mary’s played last season.
Mahaney averaged 13.9 points per game in each of his two seasons at Saint Mary’s. He also averaged at least two rebounds and two assists in both of his college seasons.
He’s an elite 3-point shooter, having made 157 shots from deep out of 419 total attempts (37.5%).
Last season, Pope’s BYU team attempted 32 3-pointers per game (second-most in the country) and the Cougars made 11.1 3-pointers per contest (third-most in the country).
According to college basketball statistician Evan Miyakawa, Mahaney ranked as the No. 98 overall transfer portal player, as of Thursday night.
Mahaney was a four-star recruit and the No. 134 overall player in the 2023 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports Composite.
Saint Mary’s was a 5 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament and was upset in the first round by 12 seed Grand Canyon. Saint Mary’s was also a 5 seed when Mahaney was a freshman in 2023. The Gaels reached the second round of that edition of March Madness.
Andrej Stojakovic
A 6-7 point guard, Stojakovic is the son of former NBA all-star and legendary former European basketball player Peja Stojakovic.
The younger Stojakovic was a 2023 McDonald’s All-American and spent his freshman season at Stanford. The Cardinal fired former head coach Jerod Haase after last season.
As a freshman, Stojakovic had per-game averages of 7.8 points and 3.4 rebounds. He mainly came off the bench for Stanford, starting only 10 of the 32 games that he played in. Stojakovic averaged more than 22 minutes played per contest.
Stojakovic was a 32.7% 3-point shooter last season at Stanford, making 34 of his 104 attempts from deep.
According to college basketball statistician Evan Miyakawa, Stojakovic ranks as the No. 185 overall transfer portal player, as of Thursday night.
Stojakovic was a five-star recruit and the No. 25 overall player in the 2023 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports Composite. During his initial high school recruitment, Stojakovic held a scholarship offer from UK when Calipari was the Wildcats’ head coach.
Deivon Smith
A 6-foot guard, Smith has already played at three schools during his college basketball career: Mississippi State, Georgia Tech (two seasons) and Utah.
After spending the first two seasons of his college career as primarily a bench player at Mississippi State and Georgia Tech, Smith became mainly a starter during his second season with the Yellow Jackets and last season at Utah. Smith transferred to the Utes after Georgia Tech fired former head coach Josh Pastner.
During the 2023-24 season, Smith put up some big numbers with the Utes: In 21 starts and 28 total games played, Smith averaged 13.3 points, 7.1 assists and 6.3 rebounds per contest. These were all career bests from Smith, who is originally from Georgia.
Smith recorded five triple-doubles last season at Utah, which was the most ever by a player in one season at a Pac-12 school and the second-most in one season in NCAA history.
Smith is a career 32% 3-point shooter, but he made a career-best 40.8% of his shots from distance last season on a career-high volume of attempts (71). Last season, Smith also averaged a career-best 1.1 steals per game for a Utah team that went 22-15 overall and reached the NIT semifinals.
Per KenPom, Smith had the third-best assist rate (43) in the nation. Assist rate is calculated from a player’s number of assists divided by the number of field goals made by a player’s teammates while the player is on the floor.
According to college basketball statistician Evan Miyakawa, Smith ranked as the No. 12 overall transfer portal player, as of Thursday night.
Smith was originally a four-star recruit and the No. 64 overall player in the 2020 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports Composite. Kentucky had interest in Smith during his high school recruitment, but he didn’t receive a scholarship offer from the Wildcats.
Like with Carr, Mahaney and Stojakovic, reports have linked Smith to taking a weekend recruiting visit to Kentucky.
But, as of Thursday night, Smith’s visit was not certain to happen this weekend.
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