UK basketball recruiting news

Class of 2015 forward Cheick Diallo won most valuable player honors at the NBPA Top 100 Camp on Saturday after leading his team to the camp championship.

Diallo, who averaged a camp-high 8.3 rebounds per game, is considered a five-star prospect in the class of 2015. The 6-foot-9 native of Mali plays his high school ball for Our Savior New American School in Centereach, N.Y.

Diallo led the Celtics to a victory over the Mavericks in the title game. The Mavericks roster included UK commitment Karl Towns, UNC commitment Justin Jackson, Indiana commitment James Blackmon Jr., five-star point guard Josh Perkins and highly touted forward Leron Black.

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Stanley Johnson is one of UK’s biggest recruiting targets in the class of 2014. He won the Peach Jam title last year with the Oakland Soldiers.
Photo: Orange County Register

John Calipari and his assistant coaches will have plenty of prospects to keep an eye on when they travel to the Nike Peach Jam later this summer.

The EYBL regular season wrapped up Monday, and several teams featuring UK recruiting targets qualified for the event, which will take place July 10-14 in North Augusta, S.C.

Here’s a look at some of the players Calipari and company are sure to be watching:

Players with UK offers …

Stanley Johnson, Oakland Soldiers: 2014 small forward will try to lead the Soldiers to back-to-back Peach Jam titles. He teamed up with Aaron Gordon last year to defeat Andrew Wiggins and CIA Bounce in the championship game. Johnson has a list of seven schools: UK, Arizona, Florida, Oregon, Duke, UCLA and Southern Cal. Kansas is also trying to get in on his recruitment.

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Tyus Jones is leading the EYBL with 7.7 assists and 2.9 steals per game.
Photo: Sherri LaRose-Chiglo/Pioneer Press

Updated stats for Kentucky recruiting targets after two sessions of EYBL play:

Emmanuel Mudiay (2014)
16.6 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 5.9 apg

Tyus Jones (2014)
22.1 ppg, 7.7 apg, 2.9 spg, 41.4% threes

Stanley Johnson (2014)
18.8 ppg, 11.6 rpg, 2.6 spg

Cliff Alexander (2014)
14.6 ppg, 12.0 rpg, 60.2 FG%

Rashad Vaughn (2014)
20.2 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 29.6% threes

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Tyus Joneshad two 20-plus point games in front of John Calipari on Saturday.
Photo: Pioneer Press

HAMPTON, Va. — Roundup of Saturday’s EYBL games featuring players with UK offers:

In possibly the most anticipated matchup of the day, Tyus Jones had 23 points, 10 assists and four steals to lead Howard Pulley to an 84-83 overtime victory over fellow Minnesotan Rashad Vaughn and Playground Elite. Vaughn had 21 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Five coaches who have won national championships were present for the game: John Calipari, Rick Pitino, Mike Krzyzewski, Tom Izzo and Roy Williams.

Later Saturday, Jones had 22 points and four rebounds in a 58-53 victory over Team Penny and Skal Labissiere, who turned in seven points and nine rebounds in 13 minutes. Calipari, Izzo and Coach K also watched that game.

Vaughn was scorless in the first half of his night game, a 67-52 loss to CIA Bounce. He ended up with 12 points.

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UK Coach John Calipari was at St. Rita High School in Chicago to do a little recruiting Tuesday.

St. Rita is the home of five-star 2015 prospect Charles Matthews, as well as four-star 2014 recruit Vic Law, who both play for Meanstreets on the EYBL circuit.

Matthews is the more highly touted recruit. Scout.com ranks him as the No. 1 point guard and No. 6 overall player in the class of 2015. Matthews is listed as a shooting guard by most services. He’s also ranked in the top 20 by Rivals (9th), ESPN (11th) and 24/7 Sports (16th). The 6-foot-5 guard already has offers from Arizona, Illinois, Marquette, Wisconsin and several others.

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