UK basketball’s 2026-27 roster will feature another former high school basketball star from Kentucky.
On Wednesday afternoon, Mark Pope’s Kentucky program picked up a commitment from Washington State junior guard Jerone Morton out of the NCAA transfer portal. UK announced Morton’s commitment on social media.
A 6-foot-4 guard, Morton was a local prep basketball star at George Rogers Clark before playing two seasons at Morehead State and one season at Washington State in his college career.
This past season with the Cougars, Morton averaged 7.8 points, 2.6 assists and 1.9 rebounds in 25.0 minutes per game. Morton, who took a recruiting visit to Kentucky on Friday, appeared in all 32 of Washington State’s games and made 29 starts during his junior year.
247Sports doesn’t rank Morton among the top players in the portal this offseason.
As a sophomore at Morehead State, Morton posted career-best statistics during the 2024-25 season. He averaged 10.4 points, 3.4 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game. He averaged 29.5 minutes per game that season for Morehead.
As a freshman with the Eagles, Morton was a bench contributor who averaged 2.2 points per game, but he played in 34 of Morehead State’s 35 games during the 2023-24 campaign. Morehead State won the Ohio Valley Conference regular season and tournament titles that season on its way to playing in the NCAA Tournament.
Before his college career, Morton was a standout player at George Rogers Clark in Winchester. He played five varsity seasons for GRC and totaled 2,684 points during his prep career. Morton — who made 214 3-pointers in his GRC career — was named the most valuable player of the 2022 Sweet 16 state tournament. GRC won that event for its first state title in 71 years.
“I think you’re going to have someone that has a lot of pride in wearing that UK jersey,” Josh Cook, who coached Morton at George Rogers Clark, told the Herald-Leader about his former player. “…He’s played at the highest level, and he’s worked his butt off to get to this spot, and he’s a winner. You’re going to get a guy who will value that.”
Morton is the 12th player in place for UK’s 2026-27 roster. He’s Kentucky’s fourth addition from the transfer portal this offseason, joining Washington sophomore guard Zoom Diallo, Furman freshman guard Alex Wilkins and James Madison junior forward Justin McBride.
Diallo is No. 27 in the 247Sports transfer portal player rankings, while Wilkins is No. 43 and McBride is No. 206.
Kentucky has also added 6-11 Senegalese forward Ousmane N’Diaye to its roster for next season.
Those five players are joined by returnees Braydon Hawthorne, Malachi Moreno, Kam Williams, Trent Noah and Reece Potter. Also joining the Cats for next season are high school recruits Zyon Hawthorne and Mason Williams.
Zyon is a younger brother of Braydon. Williams is a four-star point guard recruit who is a son of new Kentucky assistant coach Mo Williams.
Kentucky’s expected roster for the 2026-27 season now includes four players — Moreno (Great Crossing), Morton (George Rogers Clark), Noah (Harlan County) and Potter (Lexington Catholic) — who played high school basketball in the commonwealth.
Moreno is expected to be back with the Cats next season, but he’s going through the 2026 NBA draft process. Moreno has until May 27 to withdraw from the draft and maintain his college eligibility.
Kentucky still has up to three roster spots left for next season’s team, and Pope is continuing to utilize the NCAA transfer portal, high school and international recruiting pathways to find more players.
Jerone Morton (11) is a 6-foot-4 guard from Lexington who played high school basketball at George Rogers Clark, before making college stops at Morehead State and Washington State. Dean Hare WSU Photo Services
Cameron Drummond
Lexington Herald-Leader
Cameron Drummond works as a sports reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader with a focus on Kentucky men’s basketball recruiting and the UK men’s basketball team, horse racing, soccer and other sports in Central Kentucky. Drummond is a second-generation American who was born and raised in Texas, before graduating from Indiana University. He is a fluent Spanish speaker who previously worked as a community news reporter in Austin, Texas.
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