CONGRATULATIONS: Basketball star Jasper Johnson returns to Kentucky and plays in front of Briton Mark Pope

The scene that unfolded Sunday night at the new Woodford County High School gym in Versailles was emblematic, in all ways, of what high-level prep basketball has become, with a specific Kentucky twist. First, the details. For the second-straight year, class of 2025 Kentucky basketball signee guard Jasper Johnson was the star attraction surrounding a homecoming game in Versailles, the Central Kentucky city located about 13 miles west of Lexington. Johnson — a five-star recruit who is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 18 player in the 2025 recruiting class — scored 31 points and was named the game MVP as his RWE team, part of the Atlanta-based Overtime Elite program, took down Huntington Prep (West Virginia) 71-70 in a competitive contest. Johnson’s high-scoring effort came in front of several notable Kentucky basketball figures. UK head coach Mark Pope took in the game alongside his wife, Lee Anne, and another class of 2025 UK signee, Great Crossing High School (Georgetown) center Malachi Moreno. Current UK freshman guard Travis Perry was also on hand for the contest, and posed postgame for a photo with Johnson. Mark Pope, along with wife Lee Anne and class of 2025 UK signee Malachi Moreno, at Woodford County for tonight’s high school showcase featuring Jasper Johnson and Taylen Kinney. pic.twitter.com/VG4BHpDB0e — Cameron Drummond (@cdrummond97) February 3, 2025 Sunday’s game was also a homecoming for another highly ranked college basketball recruit from the commonwealth. Taylen Kinney — a five-star guard in the class of 2026 — scored 13 points for RWE in the win. Kinney began his prep career at Newport High School in Northern Kentucky. Both Johnson and Kinney were at Rupp Arena on Saturday night for Kentucky’s home loss to Arkansas, which marked the return of ex-UK coach John Calipari to Lexington. Once the win was secured for RWE, the real show began. A capacity crowd of more than 2,000 fans at Woodford County spilled over onto the court, led by adoring kids and teenagers angling to get a photo with Johnson, Kinney or any of their teammates who are full-blown social media stars thanks to the Overtime platform. Kinney has more than 455,000 combined followers on Instagram and TikTok. Johnson has North of 95,000 followers on Instagram. The RWE team Instagram page has more than 500,000 followers, too. After the crowd was corralled into order, a 45-minute autograph session followed. Everything from photographs to phone cases were signed by RWE players. Finally, almost an hour after the game ended, Johnson was able to sit back and reflect on his night back in his old Kentucky home, and ahead of his full-time return to the commonwealth later this year as a UK player. “It means a lot, because I know I was a kid one day looking up to players like I am now,” Johnson said of the wild postgame scene. “It’s great to be able to play in front of them, put on a show and then sign some autographs. Maybe it’ll uplift them. You never know when somebody’s going through something, but just being human and expressing and giving back.” Quite the postgame scene at Woodford County High School as Jasper Johnson, Taylen Kinney and their RWE teammates from @OvertimeElite sign autographs for fans. pic.twitter.com/yT1okDVkIx — Cameron Drummond (@cdrummond97) February 3, 2025 Class of 2025 Kentucky men’s basketball signee Jasper Johnson talks to reporters after playing for the Overtime Elite RWE team on Sunday at Woodford County High School in Versailles. Cameron Drummond cdrummond@herald-leader.com Last year’s homecoming for Johnson also came with a level of pomp and circumstance. In January 2024, Johnson was still a highly sought after college basketball recruit when he returned to Versailles to play a game at the old Woodford County High School gym, affectionately known as “The Hive.” Johnson was part of a star-studded Link Academy (Missouri) prep team which also beat Huntington Prep in a matchup that pitted Johnson against five-star class of 2025 guard Darryn Peterson, a former UK recruit who is going to Kansas. On that occasion 13 months ago, Johnson scored a game-high 37 points in front of several college coaches and recruiters, including Calipari, then the head coach at UK. Kentucky’s offseason coaching transition from Calipari to Pope didn’t slow down Johnson’s recruitment by the Cats, though. Johnson committed to UK in September from a final shortlist of schools that also included Alabama, Arkansas, Louisville and North Carolina.

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