Bryce Hopkins enters transfer portal

Kentucky Wildcats freshman forward Bryce Hopkins becomes the latest Wildcat to enter his name into the transfer portal, he announced today. He joins Dontaie Allen as players who’ve entered the portal so far since the season ended.

Hopkins was a former 4-star prospect out of Chicago and was originally committed to Louisville, but decommitted from the Cardinals in favor of John Calipari and his Wildcats.

During his one season in Lexington, Hopkins averaged 6.4 minutes per game and 2.1 points per game on 43% shooting from the field and 1.4 rebounds per game.

Most notably, Hopkins had a breakout game against the LSU Tigers at Rupp Arena this past season, when the Wildcats were playing without Sahvir Wheeler and TyTy Washington, Hopkins stepped up and scored 13 points off the bench in just 16 minutes, and gave Kentucky a mostly comfortable lead against the Tigers.

After that, though, Hopkins never saw much playing time despite John Calipari insisting that he must play Hopkins more after his explosive night against LSU. Hopkins did not see the floor in Kentucky’s final two games of the season, both losses to Tennessee and Saint Peter’s.

Hopkins saw double-digit minutes just twice in SEC play.

Hopkins chose the Wildcats over Illinois, DePaul, Providence and handful of other schools the first go-around, I would expect those same schools to be in play, as well as the Louisville Cardinals again, especially with Kenny Payne at the helm in Louisville.

This one stings for the Kentucky basketball program, as Hopkins was seen as a player with untapped potential just waiting to be unleashed.

Best of luck to Bryce.

Go follow our Twitter page and then go ‘like’ our Facebook page for the latest Kentucky Wildcats news and views. Got a link we should check out? Email us at seaofblue@gmail.com.