Which top college basketball recruits will be playing in the Boys’ Sweet 16 in Rupp Arena?
The field for this week’s UK HealthCare Boys’ Sweet 16 state basketball tournament at Rupp Arena is set.
And plenty of top college basketball prospects will be contending for a state championship in Lexington.
From UK signee Travis Perry (Lyon County) to elite class of 2025 big man Malachi Moreno (Great Crossing) and plenty of other promising young basketball players in between, this year’s edition of the Sweet 16 will again feature a plethora of future college basketball standouts.
Here’s a look (in alphabetical order, by last name) at some of the top college basketball recruits that will be playing on the Rupp Arena hardwood over the coming days.
The Boys’ Sweet 16 begins Wednesday morning and continues through Saturday night’s championship game.
Top Boys’ Sweet 16 college basketball recruits
▪ Zander Carter: A 6-foot-4 junior guard from 16th Region champion Ashland Blazer, Carter has committed to play college basketball at Liberty of Conference USA.
Carter is averaging 22.7 points per game for the Tomcats, as well as 6.5 rebounds per contest. In last year’s Sweet 16, Carter scored 25 points in an opening-round win over Owensboro and 14 points in a quarterfinal defeat to eventual state champion Warren Central.
Carter was also part of the Ashland Blazer teams that reached the Sweet 16 in 2021 and 2022. In total, the Tomcats have won six straight 16th Region titles.
▪ Isaiah Cochran: A 6-7 junior guard from 5th Region champion Adair County, Cochran has reported Division I scholarship offers from Bryant, Eastern Kentucky, McNeese State and Tennessee Tech.
Cochran is averaging 16.9 points and 8.9 rebounds per game for Adair County this season.
▪ Vince Dawson: A 6-5 junior guard from 11th Region champion Great Crossing, Dawson has reported Division I scholarship offers from Eastern Kentucky, Miami (Ohio) and Southeast Missouri State.
Dawson is averaging 18.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game for the Warhawks, who will be making their first-ever trip to the Sweet 16 this week.
Dawson hit a game-winning 3-pointer to win the 11th Region championship for Great Crossing over Lexington Catholic.
▪ Christian Doerr: A 6-3 senior guard from 6th Region champion Evangel Christian, Doerr has reported a Division I scholarship offer from Jacksonville State.
Doerr is averaging 17.1 points and 3.5 rebounds per game for the Eagles, who won their first region championship in school history this year.
▪ Julius Edmonds: A 6-6 junior center from 7th Region champion Louisville Trinity, Edmonds has reported Division I scholarship offers from Ohio and Southeast Missouri State.
Edmonds is averaging 11.9 points and 7.7 rebounds per game for the Shamrocks.
▪ Maddox Huff: A 6-2 junior guard from 13th Region champion Harlan County, Huff has reported Division I scholarship offers from Eastern Kentucky and East Tennessee State.
Huff is averaging 17.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per game for the Black Bears.
▪ Braxton Jennings: A 6-1 junior from 16th Region champion Ashland Blazer, Jennings’ recruiting interest is actually concentrated on the football field.
A standout skill position player on both sides of the ball for the Tomcats, Jennings has reported Division I college football offers from Bowling Green State, Buffalo, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Michigan, Marshall, Massachusetts and Toledo.
On the hardwood, Jennings is averaging 10.1 points and 2.5 rebounds per game for Ashland Blazer. In last year’s Sweet 16, Jennings had 10 points in an opening-round win over Owensboro and six points in a quarterfinal loss to eventual state champion Warren Central.
▪ Jayden Johnson: A 6-5 sophomore wing from 7th Region champion Louisville Trinity, Johnson is one of the top college basketball prospects in Kentucky at the moment.
Johnson is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 37 overall prospect in the 2026 recruiting class. Johnson’s offer list is strong and includes schools like Cincinnati, Indiana, Missouri, Texas A&M and Xavier.
He is averaging 12 points and 4.9 rebounds per game for the Shamrocks. Johnson will play travel basketball this summer with MoKan Elite on the Nike EYBL circuit.
▪ Taylen Kinney: A 6-1 sophomore point guard from 9th Region champion Newport, Kinney is another highly coveted college basketball prospect from the commonwealth.
According to 247Sports, Kinney is ranked as the No. 56 overall prospect in the 2026 recruiting class. His list of scholarship offers already includes Illinois, Indiana, Louisville and Tennessee, among other schools.
He is averaging 18 points and 4.1 rebounds per game for the Wildcats, who also made the Sweet 16 last year. In an opening-round loss to Lyon County, Kinney had 11 points and two rebounds.
During Newport’s 9th Region title game win over Cooper last week, Kinney suffered an injury during the second possession of the game and didn’t return.
▪ Connor Loy: A 6-foot junior guard from 5th Region champion Adair County, Loy has reported a Division I scholarship offer from McNeese State.
Loy is averaging 17.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game for Adair County this season.
▪ Malachi Moreno: A 7-1 junior frontcourt star from 11th Region champion Great Crossing, Moreno is one of the most sought-after prospects nationally in the 2025 recruiting class.
Moreno is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 35 overall recruit in the 2025 class and has offers from the likes of Alabama, Baylor, Indiana, Kentucky, Purdue and Tennessee, among plenty of other schools. Moreno took an official visit to Iowa in October.
Moreno has been a frequent presence at Rupp Arena this season for UK men’s basketball games. He is averaging 15.9 points and a whopping 13 rebounds per game for Great Crossing this season.
Moreno’s older brother, Michael, just wrapped up a stellar five-year playing career at Eastern Kentucky during which he became the Colonels’ all-time leader in made 3s.
▪ Trent Noah: A 6-6 senior guard from 13th Region champion Harlan County, Noah is one of two players in this year’s Sweet 16 who will be playing SEC basketball later in 2024.
In October, Noah committed to play college hoops at South Carolina. He picked the Gamecocks from a final group of schools that also included Butler, Dayton, Saint Louis, Seton Hall, Stanford, Richmond and Western Kentucky.
Noah is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 140 overall player in the 2024 recruiting class. He is averaging 29.7 points and 10.5 rebounds per game this season for Harlan County.
Noah is listed as a small forward by 247Sports, and signed his national letter of intent with South Carolina in November.
“Trent is a ferocious competitor that has a passion and commitment to the game that is hard to find,” South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris said in a news release when the Gamecocks announced the addition of Noah. “On the court, he is a supremely confident and a skilled shooter that has a great feel for the game.”
▪ Travis Perry: A 6-2 senior guard from 2nd Region champion Lyon County, Perry needs no introduction to basketball fans in Kentucky.
He’s the all-time leading scorer in Kentucky boys basketball high school history, having secured this famous record during the opening round of last year’s Sweet 16. Perry has scored 5,393 career points (dating back to when he first played varsity basketball for the Lyons as a seventh grader) entering this year’s state tournament.
Perry was named Kentucky Mr. Basketball for 2024 at an awards ceremony Sunday night. He is the 21st future UK player to earn Kentucky boys high school basketball’s highest individual honor and the second in a row, following Reed Sheppard last year.
In November, Perry surprised many by committing to play college basketball at Kentucky from a list of final schools that also included Alabama, Cincinnati, Ole Miss and Western Kentucky. Perry has signed his national letter of Intent with the Wildcats.
He is one of six members of Kentucky’s 2024 recruiting class, which ranks as the second-best recruiting class in the country. Perry has been a frequent presence at UK games this season and was introduced to the Rupp Arena crowd during UK’s home loss to Tennessee in February.
Perry is the top-ranked college basketball prospect from Kentucky in the 2024 recruiting class: The 247Sports Composite ranks Perry as the No. 80 overall prospect in the class.
Perry is coached by his father, Ryan, at Lyon County, and the Lyons are making their third consecutive appearance in the Sweet 16.
This season, Perry is averaging 29.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
▪ Ty Price: A 5-10 junior guard from 3rd Region champion Butler County, Price has reported Division I scholarship offers from Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State, Southeast Missouri State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Price is averaging a staggering 29.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game for the Bears this season. Price will play with Grand Park Premier of Indiana on the PUMA circuit this summer.
▪ Jack Reddick: A 6-3 senior guard from 2nd Region champion Lyon County, Reddick committed to Florida Gulf Coast of the ASUN Conference in February.
Reddick got on FGCU’s radar following a standout showing at the prestigious City of Palms Classic tournament in Florida in December.
The senior guard is averaging 14.8 points and 4.2 rebounds this season. Like Perry, Reddick is also making his third consecutive trip to Rupp Arena with Lyon County for the Sweet 16.
▪ Brady Shoulders: A 6-6 senior guard from 2nd Region champion Lyon County, Shoulders committed to Tennessee-Martin of the Ohio Valley Conference and signed with the Skyhawks in November. He also had a Division I scholarship offer from Air Force.
Shoulders is averaging 17.7 points and 10.3 rebounds per game this season.
“Our staff is fired up to get a talented and versatile player like Brady during the early signing period,” UT-Martin head coach Ryan Ridder said when the Skyhawks announced the signing of Shoulders in November. “Obviously with Brady playing a little over an hour up the road, we have made it a priority to try and recruit the best high school prospects in our area. He has been part of a historic run at his high school and is a winner in every sense of the word. He is exactly the kind of person and player we are looking for here at UT-Martin.”
Like his teammates, Perry and Reddick, Shoulders is also taking part in the Sweet 16 for a third time with Lyon County.
▪ James Turner: A 6-7 sophomore forward from 9th Region champion Newport, Turner has reported Division I scholarship offers from Charleston, IUPUI, Jackson State, Kent State, Radford and Stony Brook.
Turner is averaging 8.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. In last year’s Sweet 16, Turner had three points and six rebounds in an opening-round loss to Lyon County.
▪ Kade Unseld: A 6-6 senior guard from 4th Region champion and defending state champion Warren Central, Unseld committed to Western Kentucky in October and signed his national letter of intent with the HIltoppers in November.
Unseld picked hometown WKU over several other Division I scholarship offers, including Bellarmine, Duquesne and Murray State.
Unseld’s commitment to Western Kentucky came just months into the tenure of first-year head caoch Steve Lutz.
“First of all, Kade is a terrific young man that comes from a first-class family,” Lutz said in a press release when WKU announced Unseld’s signing. “The biggest complement I can give him is that he’s a winner on and off the court. As a player, he has a tremendous gift for shooting the basketball and impacting the game with his high basketball IQ. Watching Kade play, it is evident that he has been coached at a high level, and that will help him transition to the collegiate level. He is a perfect fit for our style of play and culture here at WKU.”
During last year’s Sweet 16 championship run for the Dragons, Unseld averaged 18.3 points per game during the state tournament, including a 17-point outing in the championship game against George Rogers Clark.
This season, Unseld is averaging 15.7 points and 6.8 rebounds as the Dragons won the 4th Region championship for the third straight year.
In 2022 as a sophomore, Unseld was part of the Warren Central team that reached the Sweet 16 championship game.
Boys’ Sweet 16 schedule
At Rupp Arena
WEDNESDAY’S FIRST-ROUND GAMES
11 a.m.: Magoffin County (21-13) vs. Perry County Central (22-13)
1:30 p.m.: Ashland Blazer (23-10) vs. Lyon County (32-3)
6 p.m.: Adair County (28-7) vs. Marshall County (25-7)
8:30 p.m.: Spencer County (25-9) vs. Great Crossing (34-1)
THURSDAY’S FIRST-ROUND GAMES
11 a.m.: Harlan County (31-4) vs. Warren Central (17-11)
1:30 p.m.: Butler County (22-8) vs. Evangel Christian (29-6)
6 p.m.: Louisville Trinity (26-7) vs. Pulaski County (23-10)
8:30 p.m.: Newport (32-3) vs. Campbell County (26-6)
FRIDAY’S QUARTERFINALS
11 a.m.: Magoffin County-Perry County Central winner vs. Spencer County-Great Crossing winner
1:30 p.m.: Ashland Blazer-Lyon County winner vs. Adair County-Marshall County winner
6 p.m.: Harlan County-Warren Central winner vs. Newport-Campbell County winner
8:30 p.m.: Louisville Trinity-Pulaski County winner vs. Butler County-Evangel Christian winner
SATURDAY’S GAMES
11 a.m.: Semifinal 1: Winners of Friday’s afternoon session
1:30 p.m.: Semifinal 2: Winners of Friday’s evening session
7:30 p.m.: Championship game
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