Kentucky’s week on the recruiting trail opened with a swing and a miss before pivoting to one of the biggest names on its board.
Nasir “Rudy” Anderson, the 2027 five-star point guard who was supposed to begin an official visit in Lexington on Monday, will not make it to campus, sources told KSR. Anderson sits at No. 10 overall and No. 4 among point guards in the Rivals Industry Rankings, and his list has already been trimmed to 10 finalists: Kentucky, Georgia, Indiana, North Carolina, Providence, Syracuse, Tennessee, Virginia, UConn and USC.
He has already taken officials to Providence, Virginia and North Carolina, with Tennessee also set for Oct. 15.
This weekend, while he’s at USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team minicamp in Colorado Springs, he’ll also shift his official visit to Georgia, which had been scheduled for Oct. 9.
That left Kentucky with an opening - and the Wildcats filled it fast.
DeMarcus Henry, a 2027 five-star wing ranked No. 2 overall and No. 1 among small forwards, is set to arrive in Lexington on Monday, KSR confirmed. He comes in off a strong showing at The Border League in Las Vegas, where his AZ Compass team beat Southeastern Prep late Sunday night. Henry, who was in front of Mark Pope and the Kentucky staff, finished with 29 points and eight rebounds in the win.
The 6-foot-7, 200-pound wing has drawn plenty of attention this fall, even if Kentucky hasn’t always been the loudest name in the mix. Arkansas and Louisville have generated the most buzz, but the Wildcats have kept pushing. They made back-to-back trips to Arizona to see Henry at school at the start of the latest recruiting period, then showed up again in Las Vegas to watch him work.
That attention has registered with Henry. When he spoke to KSR in July, he made clear Kentucky had stayed in touch.
“Mark Pope, Coach Mo (Williams), they are all just great people,” Henry told KSR in July. “I love what they’re doing with the program.
They’re always reaching out, the whole coaching staff. Just reaching out to me, it means a lot hearing from all those guys.
It’s such a great program. … They’ve just been saying they believe that they could do the best job with me, and they feel like I’m a priority to them.”
The visit to Lexington is his fourth official this fall, following trips to Louisville on Sept. 1, UConn on Sept. 10 and Arkansas on Sept.
- He has also taken unofficial visits to BYU and Ohio State, though those schools’ official visits were canceled.
Potential officials to North Carolina and Duke have not been added, and it’s unclear whether they will be.
The timetable is moving fast. Henry said during a TV broadcast on Sunday, “I’m looking to make a decision probably in November, trying to get it over with before the season,” and he is planning to sign during the early signing period from Nov. 11-18.
His final group currently includes Louisville, UConn, Arkansas, Kentucky, BYU, Kansas, North Carolina, Duke and Ohio State, though UConn is no longer in the mix after landing Jordan Page over the weekend. The rest, for now, are still chasing Arkansas and Louisville, while Kentucky tries to use this official visit to get real traction.
Henry also brings a notable family background. He is the son of the late Chris Henry, the former Bengals wide receiver who died in 2009 at age 26 after six seasons in Cincinnati. Chris Henry was drafted in the third round in 2005 out of West Virginia and finished his NFL career with 1,826 yards and 20 touchdowns.
DeMarcus’ older brother, Chris Henry Jr., is a standout wide receiver at Ohio State and was the No. 1 player at his position coming out of high school. He has two touchdowns and 105 receiving yards in his true freshman season. Their sister, Seini, is also a forward on the Ohio State women’s basketball team and is entering her sophomore season.
On the floor, Henry has put together the kind of year that matches the billing. A left-handed wing with a 6-foot-11 wingspan and a strong frame, he averaged 19.3 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.3 blocks per game across 16 Nike EYBL contests.
Before that, he posted 12.6 points and 8.2 rebounds over 12 games last season at AZ Compass Prep. He also earned First Team honors at the NBPA Top 100 Camp in June, where he led the event in scoring at 20.0 points per game and rebounding at 9.3 boards per game.
Kentucky got the official visit it needed to keep pressing. Now it has to make the most of it.
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