The top 10 Kentucky Wildcats who transferred to play basketball at UK

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Transfers are all the current rage in college athletics. The portal is the place to be. Why John Calipari has no less than four transfers — CJ Fredrick, Kellan Grady, Sahvir Wheeler and Oscar Tshiebwe — on his UK basketball roster for 2021-22. Some of the Cats’ competitors have even more.

That got me to thinking about the best transfers to play basketball for the Wildcats. We’re talking players who transferred to UK from other schools. Here’s my Top 10:

1. Kyle Macy: The Peru, Indiana point guard left Purdue after one season, completed his required one year of sitting out, then played a vital role in leading the 1977-78 Wildcats to the national championship. The 6-foot-4 Macy ended up as a three-time All-American who scored 1,411 points and was credited with 470 assists. Six different games Macy recorded double-digit assists during his UK career. And, oh yeah, he made 88.98 percent of his free throws.

Kyle Macy (4) scored 1,411 points in three seasons at Kentucky after transferring from Purdue.
Kyle Macy (4) scored 1,411 points in three seasons at Kentucky after transferring from Purdue.

2. Derek Anderson: A star at Louisville Doss High School, Anderson spent two years at Ohio State before transferring to UK to play for Rick Pitino in 1995-96. Anderson averaged 9.4 points per game on Pitino’s loaded 1996 title team. Averaging 17.7 points as a senior, Anderson’s absence because of a knee injury may have been the only thing that kept the Cats from a repeat title in 1997. Instead, Kentucky lost to Arizona in the NCAA title game.

3. Travis Ford: A star at North Hopkins High School in Madisonville, the 5-9 Ford spent a year at Missouri before joining Rick Pitino’s Wildcats in 1991-92. Ford played the point on UK’s 1993 Final Four team, averaging 13.6 points and 4.9 assists per game. Ford scored 20-or-more points 12 times in his UK career. He’s now the head coach at Saint Louis University.

4. Mark Pope: The 6-10 transfer from Washington played a key role on that 1996 national title team, averaging 7.6 points and 5.2 rebounds in just 19.9 minutes per game. He scored 26 points in his UK debut on Nov. 24, 1995, in a win over Maryland. Pope is now the head basketball coach at Brigham Young, where he led the Cougars to the 2021 NCAA Tournament.

Mark Pope transferred from Washington to Kentucky and won a national championship with the Wildcats in 1996.
Mark Pope transferred from Washington to Kentucky and won a national championship with the Wildcats in 1996.

5. Josh Harrellson: The beloved “Jorts” was brought to UK from Southern Illinois Junior College by Billy Gillispie. Nearly booted from the team by John Calipari, Harrellson went on to play a key role on Kentucky’s 2011 Final Four team, averaging 7.6 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. He scored 23 points with 14 rebounds in UK’s Dec. 31, 2010, win over Louisville at the KFC Yum Center.

6. Patrick Sparks: The Muhlenberg North star spent two seasons at Western Kentucky before joining Tubby Smith’s Wildcats. In two seasons, the 6-foot Sparks scored 714 points and made 151 of 397 three-point attempts. His three-pointer at the end of regulation against Michigan State sent the 2005 NCAA Austin Regional finals into overtime.

7. Heshimu Evans: The New York native spent two years at Manhattan before transferring to UK in 1996. The 6-6 forward averaged 8.8 points and 5.4 rebounds on Kentucky’s 1998 national title team. Evans scored 10 points with six rebounds off the bench in the NCAA title game victory over Utah in 1998. He scored a career-high 31 points against Maryland in 1998-99.

Josh Harrellson, a junior-college transfer, helped lead Kentucky to the NCAA Final Four in 2011.
Josh Harrellson, a junior-college transfer, helped lead Kentucky to the NCAA Final Four in 2011.

8. Reid Travis: A graduate transfer from Stanford, the 6-8 Travis averaged 11.2 points and 7.2 rebounds for Calipari’s 2018-19 team that lost in overtime to Auburn in the NCAA Midwest Region finals. Travis produced three double-doubles at UK, including 14 points and 11 rebounds in the NCAA Tournament win over Wofford.

9. Davion Mintz: The Creighton transfer averaged 11.5 points and 3.1 assists for UK during its 2020-21 COVID-19 season. The 6-3 guard shot 38.1 percent from three-point range. He has not yet said whether he will return to Kentucky for an extra season.

10. Olivier Sarr: Despite playing on a 9-16 team, the transfer from Wake Forest averaged 10.8 points and 5.6 rebounds in 2020-21, his only season at UK. A native of Bordeaux, France, Sarr scored a career-high 24 points in a Kentucky win over Vanderbilt.

Derek Anderson displays his jersey to the crowd while cutting down the net after Kentucky won the 1996 NCAA title.
Derek Anderson displays his jersey to the crowd while cutting down the net after Kentucky won the 1996 NCAA title.

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