The Milan Momcilovic saga has finally reached its conclusion.
Last Wednesday night, news broke that Momcilovic was withdrawing from the 2026 NBA Draft and returning to school, with the Kentucky Wildcats and Louisville Cardinals seen as the frontrunners for the Iowa State transfer.
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Now, we have a decision, as Momcilovic committed to the University of Kentucky on Monday.
On3’s Joe Tipton and ESPN’s Jeff Borzello broke the news first. And UK basically has with the below tweet.
Finally, Mark Pope has the major recruiting win that’s continuously eluded him this offseason, and Kentucky finally has some star power entering the 2026-27 college basketball season.
Simply put, the 6-foot-8, 225-pound Momcilovic is one of the best shooters the sport has seen in recent memory. Last season, he averaged 16.9 points on 50.6% shooting, including an NCAA-high 48.7% shooting on 7.5 3-point attempts per game, to go with 3.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 30.5 minutes per game.
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The Wisconsin native knocked down an NCAA-high 136 3-pointers and had 11 games of five or more makes, including four contests in which he hit eight triples. That included an 8/14 performance (10/18 overall) for 28 points in an 82-80 loss to the Arizona Wildcats in the Big 12 Championship Game.
In 102 career college games, Momcilovic has knocked down 260/608 3-point attempts (42.8%). Over three seasons, his Cyclones teams have gone 29-8, 25-10, and 29-8 with a pair of top-10 finishes in the final AP Poll.
In terms of where he stands in transfer portal rankings, Momcilovic is No. 2 overall at CBS, No. 2 at SB Nation, No. 4 at The Athletic, No. 2 at NBC Sports, No. 3 at On3, and No. 2 at 247 Sports. He becomes the highest-ranked player Kentucky has landed in the transfer portal era.
It can’t be overstated how massive this is for Kentucky Basketball and head coach Mark Pope. Momcilovic is the first true star player that Pope has landed in three offseasons with the Wildcats (not counting Jayden Quaintance coming off ACL surgery).
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In an offseason full of misses, this was arguably the biggest fish Pope could have reeled in. While it would have been nice to get a franchise recruit like Tyran Stokes, he’s still a high school player making the transition to college. Momcilovic was already playing like a borderline All-American last season and could be a preseason All-American entering the 2026-27 season.
Now, let’s celebrate!
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