Kentucky announces jersey numbers for 2023-24 basketball season
The Kentucky Men’s Basketball team has announced the team’s individual jersey numbers ahead of the 2023-2024 college basketball season.
Three players that saw somewhat regular minutes for the Wildcats last season — Adou Thiero, Antonio Reeves and Ugonna Onyenso — alongside most of the walk-ons, have not adjusted their respective jersey numbers. With eight new additions to the roster thus far, however, there’s been a ton of jersey turnover.
Here are the numbers in order:
- 0 – Rob Dillingham
- 1 – Justin Edwards
- 2 – Aaron Bradshaw
- 3 – Adou Thiero
- 4 – Tre Mitchell
- 12 – Antonio Reeves
- 13 – Grant Darbyshire
- 14 – Brennan Canada
- 15 – Reed Sheppard
- 20 – Joey Hart
- 21 – DJ Wagner
- 22 – Walker Horn
- 23 – Jordan Burks
- 25 – Kareem Watkins
- 33 – Ugonna Onyenso
In terms of the incoming freshman, Dillingham takes over Jacob Toppin‘s number from last season, Edwards takes CJ Fredrick‘s, Aaron Bradshaw will wear Sahvir Wheeler‘s No. 2 and Mitchell takes Daimion Collins‘ number.
Returning walk-on Walker Horn has changed his jersey number from No. 21 to No. 22, so that five-star recruit DJ Wagner can continue to wear the same number he wore in high school. Recent top-10 NBA Draft pick Cason Wallace previously wore the No. 22 jersey.
Chris Livingston‘s No. 24, Oscar Tshiebwe‘s No. 34 and Lance Ware‘s No. 55 will not be worn this upcoming season.
One interesting jersey number choice — incoming freshman and McDonald’s All-American Reed Sheppard will don No. 15 this season for UK, the same number his father, Jeff, wore for the Wildcats during his illustrious career in the 1990s. Reed’s father helped Kentucky to their 1996 and 1998 NCAA Championship victories, including winning the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player award during the ’98 run.
Tre Mitchell, who recently transferred to Kentucky from West Virginia, will wear No. 4 for UK this upcoming season. He previously wore No. 3 at WVU and No. 33 for Texas and UMass.
Mitchell, a college basketball journeyman, brings experience and leadership to an incredibly young Kentucky squad. During his senior season at WVU in ’22-23, Mitchell averaged 11.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in 30.0 minutes per game. He started in 32 of the 34 games he appeared in, shooting 47.0 percent overall, 36.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 78.9 percent from the free-throw line.
Kentucky has already announced two marquee games for its 2023 season, too. They’ll play Kansas in the Champions Classic in Chicago on Nov. 14. Two weeks later on Nov. 28, they’ll play Miami inside Rupp Arena as a part of the ACC/SEC Challenge.