According to a report from Kentucky Sports Radio’s Jacob Polacheck on Friday morning, the Kentucky basketball program has contacted former Tennessee forward Jonas Aidoo from the transfer portal.
Aidoo declared for the NBA Draft while entering the transfer portal on Apr. 11, as Kentucky officially hired Mark Pope as the next head coach of the men’s basketball program on Apr. 12. It’s no surprise that with all of the talent that Kentucky lost this offseason following the departure of John Calipari that the Wildcats would be looking at just about any and every talented player who is looking for a new home.
According to Polacheck, Aidoo reportedly told KSR on Friday that “he has heard from Kentucky’s new staff since entering the portal.”
In his third season with Tennessee, Aidoo was thrust into a starting role following the departures of Uros Plavsic and Olivier Nkamhoua the previous offseason. Aidoo found a career-high in points (11.4 PPG), rebounds (7.3 RPG), assists (1.0 APG), FG percentage (51.5), and minutes (24.7 MPG).
Aidoo had some standout performances throughout the year with eight point-rebound double-doubles, including impressive games against Texas A&M (18 points, 14 rebounds), Arkansas (23/12), Florida (19/10), and Ole Miss (24/10). Aidoo, though, struggled in the postseason for the Vols. The 6-foot-11 junior took advantage of Saint Peter’s with a strong 15-point showing but struggled in Tennessee’s next three games. Aidoo totaled 11 points and four rebounds against Texas, four points and four rebounds against Creighton, and zero points and two rebounds in just 10 minutes against Purdue.
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Kentucky, unsurprisingly, isn’t the only program interested in the former Tennessee big man.
According to a report from 247 Sports’ Travis Branham on Wednesday, Aidoo is taking a visit to Baylor this weekend, which begins on April 19.
Aidoo is ranked as a four-star portal prospect and the No. 11 player in the portal according to 247 Sports while On3 Sports has Aidoo as the No. 5 overall portal prospect.
During his first media appearance since Tennessee’s loss in the Elite Eight on Thursday, Vols head coach Rick Barnes was asked if he was surprised by Aidoo’s departure into the portal.
“Yeah, because he had told everybody he was fine,” Barnes said.
As Rocky Top Insider’s Ryan Schumpert nicely summed up in a sentence, “It was a short but somewhat telling answer from Barnes about his former All-SEC forward.”
In Aidoo’s first season as the full-time starting big man for Barnes’ Tennessee Volunteers, the North Carolina native earned Second Team All-SEC honors.
As far as the Tennessee side of things go, the Vols officially announced the signing of former Hofstra wing Darlinstone Dubar on Thursday. Dubar gives Tennessee an athletic wing that has a knack for scoring and a desire to defend with the best of ’em. Check out more on Dubar here.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more Tennessee transfer portal coverage.
