When it rains, it pours.
Just minutes after Florida State small forward Taylor Bol Bowen announced his commitment to Alabama, another former Kentucky target, Maryland’s Ja’Kobi Gillespie, also chose to commit elsewhere in the SEC.
On3 confirmed the news on social media.
Gillespie was quick to receive interest from UK after entering the portal from Maryland after Head Coach Kevin Willard departed for Villanova. KSR’s Jacob Polacheck confirmed that fact, citing that it was UK Head Coach Mark Pope who reached out directly.
Gillespie averaged 14.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists while shooting 45.3% from the field for a Terps squad that seemed primed to make a deep NCAA Tournament run before running into No. 1 Florida during the fiasco with Willard.
Being a major player for such a strong roster, it was little shock that Gillespie immediately attracted plenty of attention from high-profile programs such as North Carolina, UK, Tennessee and Villanova all the while Maryland and new Head Coach Buzz Williams also fought to try to keep him.
Gillespie was expected to visit both Tennessee and Villanova with reports quickly beginning to indicate that the Vols and Head Coach Rick Barnes were the easy frontrunners to nab Gillespie in the portal.
Unlike with San Diego State transfer Magoon Gwath, the reports were accurate this time and, as expected, Gillespie is a Volunteer.
Barnes has put in work rebuilding his roster that, at once deemed worthy of earning UT its first ever Final Four, fell short in the Elite Eight versus Houston and is losing multiple key pieces.
It would be a stretch to consider the loss of Gillespie as a true loss for Pope and his staff considering contact between the two had ceased and UT was the clear favorite, but, nonetheless, the former Terrapins’ commitment takes another name off UK’s contact board as portal season continues to rage on.
