Mark Pope’s first big win of the offseason may turn out to be keeping Malachi Moreno in Lexington.
Kentucky loaded up through the transfer portal, but Moreno is the piece drawing real breakout buzz heading into the 2026-27 college basketball season. ESPN’s Jeff Borzello and Myron Medcalf included the Kentucky seven-footer among their breakout candidates, and the case is easy to see after what he already showed as a true freshman.
Moreno averaged 7.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.5 blocks per game last season, production that arrived in a year when Big Blue Nation did not expect him to play much. Injuries changed that, and so did Moreno’s own play, which earned the Kentucky native a much bigger role than anyone anticipated.
Borzello and Medcalf pointed to the sophomore’s decision to pull out of the NBA draft and return to Lexington. As they wrote: “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.”
That return gives Pope another major interior weapon, and Moreno’s profile is the kind that can jump fast if the numbers climb. The source material sees him moving closer to a double-double this season, with a projected line of 12 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and two blocks per game. If he gets anywhere near that, the idea is that he could put himself in first-round territory for the 2027 NBA Draft.
Moreno already flirted with that level when he tested the draft waters, and scouts clearly noticed. What Kentucky got as a freshman was already more than expected, and the belief here is that the sophomore leap will be even bigger. The expectation is that Moreno won’t just be one of the best big men in the SEC, but one of the best in college basketball.
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This season now feels like the one that will say the most about where the program is headed under Pope. Kentucky fans do not need a perfect year to feel better about the direction, but they do need a real postseason push, and the pressure around a deep run is hard to miss when the standard in Lexington is always so much higher than simply being competitive. [Read more 🡒]