Ugonna Onyenso will join Kentucky basketball team this season. ‘A ton of natural talent.’

A week before heading to the Bahamas for an early start to the basketball schedule, the Kentucky Wildcats are still adding recruits for the upcoming season.

Ugonna Onyenso committed to UK on Monday and will join the Cats’ roster for the 2022-23 campaign. The near-7-footer from Nigeria arrived in the United States earlier this year and has just one semester at an American high school under his belt, but his future is looking as bright as just about any big man in the country.

“He has all the physical tools you look for in a big man — from a size, length, athleticism standpoint,” 247Sports analyst Travis Branham told the Herald-Leader. “He’s a guy who’s explosive around the rim and has a lot of pop. Just a ton of natural talent.

“He’s kind of a piece of clay that you can bring into your program and mold to your liking. So I think that is exactly what he provides to Kentucky — he’s a guy that they’re going to get on campus early and not put any pressure on him to have a big role right away.”

That’s the plan for Onyenso, who will join his new teammates later this month and immediately dive into the college basketball landscape.

Onyenso grew up in Nigeria before spending more than two years at the NBA Academy in Senegal, where he honed his skills and emerged as a possible recruit of interest to American colleges. He moved to Connecticut in January — playing out the 2021-22 season with New England powerhouse Putnam Science Academy — and it became quickly apparent that Onyenso was a potential five-star prospect on the recruiting trail.

He chose Kentucky on Monday after also taking official visits to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, but it’s been clear for weeks that the Wildcats were the major favorites to land Onyenso, who now becomes a big part of John Calipari’s future plans for the UK frontcourt.

Onyenso revealed his college decision during a live video stream with 247Sports — traveling back to the NBA Academy in Senegal for the announcement — and he explained his reasoning behind choosing the Cats.

“My first reason was their track record with their bigs,” he said. “They know how to develop their bigs to get to the next level. And my second reason for choosing Kentucky is I have seen them play. They play my kind of basketball. I can fit in their system of basketball. They are positionless. The way they run, their flow. That is my kind of basketball.

“After talking to Coach Cal, I knew that would be the perfect place for me.”

Previously listed in the 2023 class, Onyenso has now been slotted into the final 2022 rankings by three of the major national recruiting services. On3.com ranks him at No. 18 overall — good enough for five-star status — while Rivals.com and 247Sports rank him No. 35 and 39, respectively.

In his brief time at Putnam Science Academy this past season, Onyenso averaged 11.4 points, nine rebounds and nearly six blocked shots per game. The team went 20-0 with him in the lineup, ultimately winning the national prep school championship.

His ability to step into an already talented team and immediately become a difference-maker was impressive. Putnam head coach Tom Espinosa has called Onyenso the best rim-protector the school has ever had. Espinosa has coached the team for nearly two decades and has won national prep titles in three of the past five seasons.

Defensively, Onyenso is clearly already a special player. At nearly 7-feet tall, he has a 7-5 wingspan, plenty of athleticism, and the ability to defend the “4” and the “5” at the college level. He plays hard, excels as a rim-runner and should be able to clean up around the basket, but he’s still developing some of the other aspects of his game.

He’ll get plenty of time and patience to do that at Kentucky.

“What excited me most about Ugonna is he wanted to not only be here but wanted to be here to train with us and learn from guys like Oscar (Tshiebwe) and Lance (Ware) immediately, and help us chase a national title,” Calipari said in a statement. “Ugonna has unbelievable natural athleticism and great instincts for a young player. He is going to be able to defend at the rim and is a terrific finisher.

“Ugonna has only been in the United States since January but has been fully immersed in basketball for several years with his experience at the NBA Academy in Africa. The staff and I are excited to help push him every day in a competitive and focused environment as he continues to improve and become the best version of himself both on and off the floor.”

Onyenso and Kentucky

Onyenso, who doesn’t turn 18 years old until late September, is not projected to play major minutes for the Wildcats this season. There appears to be a good possibility that he doesn’t play at all — perhaps sitting out the entire season as a redshirt — and there will be no expectation of immediate minutes.

Kentucky already has the reigning national player of the year returning in Oscar Tshiebwe, who played 31.9 minutes per game at the “5” spot last season. Daimion Collins and Lance Ware will also be back and are expecting to play larger roles than they did last season. UK also has a couple of bigger wings — Jacob Toppin and Chris Livingston — that can slide into the “4” spot in certain lineups.

So, Kentucky doesn’t need Onyenso to be a world-beater right off the bat. If he can step in and fill a role, it sounds as if UK’s coaches would have no qualms about playing him this season, but the focus for Onyenso over the next few months will be preparing himself to be an impact player for the 2023-24 season.

Even if he doesn’t play at all this season, the experience could be an invaluable one for Onyenso’s basketball future at Kentucky.

“I think that’s something that doesn’t get spoken about enough,” Branham said. “Anytime any freshman can come in and not have a ton of pressure — especially when they’re in this scenario of still trying to figure out who they are and coming into their own — it’s big. Coming into a situation where you have no pressure, you have Oscar Tshiebwe, and you have a pretty deep roster of guys ahead of you — that really plays into the hand of a prospect.”

There’s plenty for Onyenso to be working on during that time.

He’s been listed at about 210 pounds in recent weeks, and he’ll need to get stronger to play as effectively as possible against high-caliber college big men. (UK listed him at 6-11 and 225 pounds in its press release Monday, for the record). Branham said Onyenso’s biggest adjustment might come with getting acclimated to the quicker pace of the college game. He also needs to fine-tune his offensive skills.

Onyenso has described himself as “a great shooter” and says he has the ball skills to play away from the basket. There have certainly been glimpses of that, but Onyenso has also acknowledged that he’s still trying to get comfortable transitioning that offensive skill set from practice to games.

The hope on Kentucky’s end is that he’ll continue to tap into his versatility over the next year or so. UK is still recruiting five-star center Aaron Bradshaw — arguably the top big man in the 2023 class — with the plan of having Bradshaw and Onyenso share the court during the 2023-24 season. Both players seemingly have the potential to step away from the basket offensively while also being able to defend the “4” and “5” positions, and if both keep going on their current trajectory it could be a dynamic and interchangeable duo in UK’s future frontcourt.

For now, Kentucky has locked in Onyenso, who’s about to get a crash course on being a Wildcat as he battles Tshiebwe and UK’s other frontcourt players in practice.

“He’s going to get a very up-close lesson every single day,” Branham said. “What it takes to succeed. How you’re supposed to work. How much hard work it takes, every single possession out on the floor. So it’s just going to be a great learning experience for him.”

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