Mark Pope calls Alex Wilkins a 'high ceiling guy'

Kentucky had an emphasis of going and finding creators through the transfer portal this offseason. One of the most important ones was the get of Alex Wilkins from Furman. Playing point guard last season, he'll be sliding into the two-guard role alongside Zoom Diallo, an interchanging two lead-guard type of system in the backcourt.

Heading into this season, it's clear that he's going to be a big part in Kentucky's playmaking and scoring ability. Last season, Wilkins averaged 17.8 points, putting up a number of 20-point games and one in particular against UConn in the NCAA Tournament. Against the Huskies, he stepped up with 21 points on 4-8 shooting from deep. Mark Pope raved about the electric guard when talking with media on Monday. He says Wilkins has a very high ceiling that he can reach in Lexington.

Mar 20, 2026; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Furman Paladins guard Alex Wilkins (10) dribbles the ball against the UConn Huskies in the second half during a first round game of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

"He's really important to us," Pope said of Wilkins. "You have some guys that are such high ceiling guys, and he's a high ceiling guy. What he's done over the course of the summer, we've been really focused on his two-point field goal percentage. We've been really focused on his assist-to-turnover ratio because while he was a high assist rate guy, he was also sharing the ball with the other team a lot, and we prefer not to do that. And so he was a 13-to-4 assist-to-turnover ratio last week in all of our live play, which I'm really excited about. He shot 56 percent from two last week alone, and so those numbers are great, and they've really grown through the course of summer because that's not where it was in the beginning of the summer. Sometimes it's hard to be a decision maker when you have so many options."

This season, Wilkins is going to be alongside Zoom Diallo in what Mark Pope classifies as a pro-style backcourt by having two lead-guards interchange who takes over point guard duties at different points in the game. How does Wilkins see himself playing alongside Diallo? He says they compliment each other well and their competitiveness feeds off of each other.

"We both do so many similar things, and we both do so many different things," Wilkins said of he and Diallo. "We've been getting really close. I mean, that's my guy. So it's been really cool just to get to know him off the court. But on the court, I mean, he does everything. We both can pass the ball. We both can shoot the ball. Both can drive the ball. He just does everything. He creates so much double gaps and creates so much openness for me. So I shot a lot of catch and shoot shots, and he's got a lot of catch and shoot shots. Our dynamicness just comes from our competitiveness."

The outlook looks bright for Wilkins in a system like Mark Pope's that feeds off having electric guards.

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