USA Basketball Photo
Before Jasper Johnson left for the USA Basketball U19 Men’s World Cup training camp, Kentucky coach Mark Pope told his incoming freshman guard to do his best and then if he made the team, he could decide if he wanted to make the trip to Switzerland to play in the FIBA U19 Men’s World Cup.
The talented guard is now one step closer to making the team after USA basketball cut the tryout list from 18 to 15 Thursday after earlier this week reducing the roster from 32 to 15.
The 6-4 Johnson had the advantage of having Pope as one of the on-court coaches early in the tryout process but Pope was back in Lexington when Thursday’s cuts were made.
Team USA will go to Lausanne, Switzerland, for the June 28-July 6 World Cup competition. If Johnson makes the team and goes, he will likely miss about three weeks of practice time with his UK teammates this summer.
Others who made the cut along with Johnson were:
• Mikel Brown Jr. (Louisville)
• Chris Cenac Jr. (Houston)
• AJ Dybantsa (BYU)
Caleb Holt (2026)
• Daniel Jacobsen (Purdue)
• Morez Johnson (Michigan)
• Nik Khamenia (Duke)
• JJ Mandaquit (Washington)
• Brandon McCoy Jr. (2026)
• Koa Peat (Arizona)
• Tyrone Riley IV (San Francisco)
• Jordan Smith Jr. (2026)
• Tyran Stokes (2026)
• Elijah Williams (2026)
McCoy, Smith, Holt and Stokes are all Kentucky targets. Stokes is a Kentucky native.
Players cut Thursday were Christian Collins, Jason Crowe, Royce Parham and Deron Rippey Jr. Collins, Crowe, and Rippey Jr. are all being recruited by Kentucky.
One Response
He made the team! I knew he would. He’s better than his ranking. He should have been at least a top 12 player in the 2025 class.