Another day, another target off Kentucky basketball’s transfer board. Today’s target? Silas Demary Jr.
On3’s Joe Tipton confirmed on Thursday afternoon that Demary Jr. had instead committed to Dan Hurley and UConn.
Kentucky Head Coach Mark Pope and his staff were familiar with Demary Jr. before he entered his name into the transfer portal, having played against him in January when the Cats traveled to Athens. Demary Jr. scored 14 points in what would ultimately be a 82-69 Bulldog victory.
A sophomore, Demary Jr. helped lead the Bulldogs to two postseasons during his time at UGA, being a freshman when the Dawgs went to the NIT and being a key contributor in a late-season push that earned them an at-large bid to the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
Averaging 13.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists, Demary Jr. scored 15 in the Bulldogs’ first-round loss to Gonzaga.
Despite Demary Jr. also receiving interest from the likes of UConn, BYU, Auburn and Oklahoma, Pope and his staff pushed hard to get the 6-foot-5 Raleigh, North Carolina, native, scheduling a home visit the day after the Cats were bested by Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen. This was after previously scheduling a zoom call as well.
KSR’s Jacob Polacheck reported that the home visit went very well, with Demary Jr. being offered a full-ride scholarship to commit to Kentucky.
Demary Jr. started in all 33 of Georgia’s games this past season and is expected to be a major contributor for the Cats who are losing veteran starting point guard Lamont Butler, who exhausted all of his collegiate eligibility.
In spite of all of this, however, Demary Jr. opted to keep his options open and visit other schools, including UConn, which ended up nabbing the potential soon-to-be star point guard.
The loss is sure to bring a sense of anxiety to BBN, which also missed out on Magoon Gwath after most experts had stated Gwath to Lexington was a sure-fire deal.
Nonetheless, transfer portal season is a marathon and not a sprint so Pope and his staff have plenty of time to build a strong roster for the 2025-26 season in addition to incoming transfer Kam Williams.
