Kentucky guard Jasper Johnson plans to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal
· Yahoo Sports
Kentucky guard Jasper Johnson plans to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal, On3’s Joe Tipton confirms. Johnson only spent one season with the Wildcats.
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He appeared in all but one of Kentucky’s 36 games this past season. The 6-foot-5 freshman averaged 4.9 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 12.0 minutes per game, while shooting 40.0% from the field and 34.1% from beyond the arc.
While Johnson showed promising flashes early in the season, he struggled in conference play. He only scored double figures in two games against SEC competition.
Johnson had his best performance of the season in Kentucky’s blowout win over North Carolina Central. In the victory, Johnson tallied a career-high 22 points on 6-10 shooting from the floor.
Jasper Johnson played high school basketball for Overtime Elite, but is originally from Lexington, Kentucky. Johnson was a four-star prospect.
Moreover, he was the No. 25 overall player and No. 9 shooting guard in the 2025 recruiting cycle, according to the Rivals Industry Rankings. Throughout this past season, Kentucky head coach Mark Pope emphasized Johnson is at his best when he’s aggressive offensively.
“He needs to be as aggressive as possible; he’s better when he’s aggressive,” Pope said of Johnson in February. “He’s going to see good results when he’s aggressive. When he gets into trouble, where I don’t feel good with him on the court, is when he’s kind of second-guessing and he’s a little bit on his heels. But the trick is he needs to be really aggressive, making reproducible plays.”
Kentucky finished the 2025-26 season with a 22-14 overall record. The Wildcats went 10-8 in conference play, placing seventh in the SEC standings.
After suffering a season-ending loss to Iowa State in the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32, Kentucky’s Mark Pope will be under pressure to succeed next season. Kentucky has failed to reach the Elite Eight for six consecutive seasons, the longest such streak in program history.
The NCAA Transfer Portal will officially open on April 7 and close on April 21. The new 15-day window was enacted following a recommendation by the men’s basketball oversight committee. Athletes don’t have to commit to a new school by the April 21 deadline.
To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.