Mark Pope visits 2025 5-star forward Chris Cenac

On3 five-star power forward Chris Cenac (photo credit - Jamie Shaw)

It’s another busy day in a busy week for Mark Pope. Ahead of Jasper Johnson‘s announcement, Kentucky’s head coach is on the road to check on another 2025 five-star prospect. According to Derek Murray, Pope is watching five-star forward Chris Cenac at Link Academy in Branson, Missouri. Jacob Polacheck first reported the visit on KSR+ earlier this week.

That’s not the only Cenac/Kentucky news this week. Yesterday, Joe Tipton reported that the 6’10”, 210 lbs. power forward will take an official visit to Kentucky the weekend of September 27. He will be joined by 2025 five-star point guard and fellow top 15 prospect Mikel Brown, whom Murray reports Pope visited today too.

“Kentucky has a great past reputation,” Cenac told KSR+ in August. “With them having a new head coach, I’m looking forward to seeing what they do this season.”

Cenac, the No. 13 overall player in the 2025 On3 Industry Ranking, will also take official visits to Tennessee, Auburn, and LSU. Houston hosted him on an official visit this past weekend. In early August, Cenac cut his list to twelve: Arkansas, Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Houston, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, Michigan State, Tennessee, Texas, and UConn.

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Cenac is coming off a breakout summer. He caught Kentucky associate head coach Alvin Brooks’ eye in May on the Puma NXTPro circuit and then again at the NBPA Top 100 Camp in June. Cenac was named MVP of the camp and soon added an offer from the Wildcats. In June, he also announced he was transferring from Isidore Newman (LA) to Link Academy (MO) for his senior season. In July, he won a gold medal with Team USA at the FIBA U17 World Cup, averaging 8.9 points and 5.4 rebounds over seven games.

“Mark Pope would love him. He’s the type of player Mark Pope loves,” Kevin Saunders, Cenac’s AAU program director, told KSR+ in June. “Knowing how Mark likes to play, he’ll probably run the offense through him. The good thing about it is that he’s such a good basketball player that he makes his teammates better.”

You can watch Cenac work below.