This is a pivotal season for Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats as he tries to prove that he is the man for the job in Lexington. Coach Pope did an excellent job this offseason of bringing in a lot of talent from the transfer portal, but one of the best moves Pope made was making sure to get Malachi Moreno back in Lexington for another season.
As a true freshman, Moreno averaged 7.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.5 blocks per game. He did this in a year where Big Blue Nation didn’t expect him to play much, but injuries plus his play earned the Kentucky native Moreno more minutes.
ESPN’s Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf put out an article talking all things college basketball, and one of the conversations these two had was about some of the breakout stars in college hoops. Kentucky’s seven-footer Moreno was one of the players listed as a breakout star for the 2026-27 college basketball season.
Here is what Medcalf and Borzello had to say about Moreno: “The 7-foot sophomore made the right move to withdraw from the NBA draft and return to Lexington, where he’ll get another chance to learn under Mark Pope, a former NBA center himself, and improve on last season’s 59% shooting from inside the arc.”…