DJ Wagner, a promising 2023 freshman, spent just one season with the University of Kentucky basketball team.
DJ Wagner, the most highly-anticipated prospect in UK Basketball's top-ranked 2023 freshman class, has found a new college basketball home.
It was reported Sunday night that Wagner, a 6-foot-4 guard from New Jersey, will transfer to Arkansas after playing one season at Kentucky under former Kentucky coach John Calipari.
In joining the Razorbacks, Wagner will join a group of former Wildcats and former Kentucky recruits who have supported Calipari since he moved from Lexington to Fayetteville.
Wagner joins Zvonimir Ivicic and Adu Tiero at Arkansas from last season's Kentucky team. 2024 Kentucky basketball recruits Boogie Frand, Carter Knox and Billy Richmond will also be with the Hogs next season.
Wagner, who was UK's starting point guard for the 2023-24 season, entered the NCAA transfer portal on April 15. The move came nearly a week after Calipari left UK to become the new head coach at Arkansas and less than 24 hours after the Wildcats introduced Mark Pope as the program's new head coach.
Pope, a former head coach at BYU and Utah Valley University and a key member of Kentucky's 1996 NCAA championship team, was scheduled to meet with Wagner after assuming his new role.
May 1 was the deadline for college basketball players, including graduate transfers, to enter the transfer portal. The early entry deadline for the 2024 NBA Draft has also passed. Players who entered the draft with remaining NCAA eligibility have until Wednesday to remove their names from consideration and return to school.
It was cause for celebration when Wagner committed to Calipari and the Wildcats in November of 2022. Wagner spent the majority of his high school career as the top-ranked player in the freshman class of 2023. According to the 247Sports Composite, Wagner ended up being ranked as the No. 6 player overall in last year's freshman group.
Wagner's decision to come to Kentucky was a major recruiting coup for Calipari, who also coached Wagner's father, Dajuan, at Memphis. DJ Wagner is the grandson of former Louisville star Milt Wagner. Calipari hired Wagner to join Memphis' basketball staff during Dajuan's playing days.
In his only college basketball season with Lexington, Wagner averaged 9.9 points and 3.3 assists in 25.8 minutes per game, appearing in 29 games and starting 28 of them.
Wagner was known for his on-ball defense, a cornerstone of Kentucky's offense, but his offensive production was inconsistent with the Wildcats in the 2023-24 season, when he was held to zero points and 0-for-5 shooting from the field in Kentucky's NCAA Tournament opening loss to Oakland.
As of Sunday night, Wagner was ranked 35th overall in the NCAA transfer portal, according to college basketball statistician Evan Miyakawa.
Built from scratch
Mark Pope is building UK's first basketball roster from scratch.
In addition to Wagner, Aaron Bradshaw (Ohio State), Jordan Burks (Georgetown), Joey Hart (Ball State), Zvonimir Ivicic (Arkansas) and Adu Tiero (Arkansas) are also transferring players from Kentucky's 2023-24 class. Additionally, Ugonna Onyenzo is still in the NCAA transfer portal.
Additionally, Rob Dillingham, Justin Edwards and Reed Shepard have declared for the 2024 NBA Draft from last season's team, while Tre Mitchell and Antonio Reeves have both lost their college eligibility.
Five of the six players listed by Coach Calipari as part of Kentucky's 2024 recruiting class have decided not to commit to the Kentucky program.
Three of those players, Boogie Frand, Carter Knox and Billy Richmond, have announced they are heading to Arkansas to play for Calipari's team, while Somto Cyril is heading to Georgia and Jayden Quaintance is heading to Arizona State.
Kentucky guard Travis Perry, the state's all-time leading scorer in high school boys basketball, is the lone freshman remaining at Kentucky to play at Pope College.
Perry is one of 11 players selected by Coach Pope to play on the University of Kentucky basketball team for the first time next season.
The others are freshman guards Collin Chandler (former BYU signee) and Trent Noah (Harlan County star and former South Carolina signee), third-year guard Otega Oweh (previously played two seasons at Oklahoma), fourth-year forward Ansley Almoner (previously played three seasons at Fairleigh Dickinson), fifth-year guard Koby Blair (previously played four seasons at Dayton), Lamont Butler (previously played four seasons at San Diego State), Carr Klisa (previously played at Arizona and West Virginia), fifth-year forward Amari Williams (previously played four seasons at Drexel), fifth-year forward Andrew Carr (previously played two seasons each at Delaware and Wake Forest) and second-year center Brandon Garrison (played last season at Oklahoma State).
