Louisiana Tech transfer Kenneth Lofton Jr. has heard from Kentucky
If Kenneth Lofton Jr. ultimately decides against the professional route and comes back for another year of college, he’ll be one of the most highly sought-after transfers in the country. One of the teams that could potentially go after him is the Kentucky Wildcats.
According to a Sunday morning report from Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, Lofton is “receiving interest” from the ‘Cats, along with several other big-name schools. Rothstein also listed Houston, Texas, Auburn, LSU, Texas A&M, Tulsa, Memphis, Southern California, UC Santa Barbara, Kansas State, Gonzaga, and Ole Miss as schools linked to Lofton. A return to Louisiana Tech has also not been ruled out.
Lofton announced in March that he would test the NBA Draft waters and entered his name into the transfer portal on Friday.
Following the announcements of Bryce Hopkins’ transfer and Keion Brooks Jr.’s testing of the NBA Draft waters, the forward position might need a bit of a boost looking ahead to the 2022-23 season. Jacob Toppin, Daimion Collins, Lance Ware, and incoming freshman Chris Livingston are all in the fold as of right now, and the potential return of Oscar Tshiebwe could change the coaching staff’s recruiting approach entirely, but Lofton would provide an immediate scoring and rebounding punch in the frontcourt.
As a sophomore in the 2021-22 season, Lofton was tabbed to the All-Conference USA First-Team and the Karl Malone Award Watch List. The 6-foot-7, 275-pound forward averaged 16.5 points and 10.5 rebounds on nearly 54 percent shooting this past season for the 24-10 Bulldogs, which finished third in the conference with a mark of 12-6.
During his second season with LA Tech, Lofton posted 10 games of at least 20 points, including a 36-point, 17-rebound outing against N.C. State and a 31-point, 14-rebound showing a week later against Santa Clara. The Bulldogs made it all the way to the C-USA tournament title game but ultimately fell to UAB. LA Tech’s head coach, Eric Konkol, took the same position with Tulsa last month.
As of right now, Lofton is not projected to hear his name called during the 2022 NBA Draft. But he had an impressive stretch on the international stage with Team USA last summer, along with two incredibly efficient and productive seasons at LA Tech. Lofton will be near the top of the next updated transfer rankings.
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