Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope and his staff have already begun working on the 2026 recruiting class, including offers to top ten prospects Anthony Thompson and Ikenna Alozie. Now they’ve added another to the list by offering guard Alijah Arenas, per Kentucky Sports Radio’s Jacob Polacheck.
Arenas is a 6’5″, 188 lb shooting guard out of California, and is the son of former NBA great Gilbert Arenas. He is currently ranked as the number five overall player in 2026 by 247sports, and has a five star rating.
Related: SEC basketball power rankings for week four
A plethora of offers have already been made to Arenas, including ones from Kansas, the Texas Longhorns, and the Alabama Crimson Tide. He will likely get many more as the recruiting process goes along.
The Wildcats have put together a very good 2025 class already, and are hoping to add to that. However, it’s good to see Coach Pope hard at work on the future as well. Arenas would be a terrific addition for 2026, and fans will want to monitor the situation.