Mark Pope, Jasper Johnson, Malachi Moreno to all attend training camp for U19 National Team

Kentucky is a couple of weeks out from starting its summer together in the bluegrass. Three members of the program, though, will be taking a trip together in the midst of that in order to prepare to represent the United States.

UK released on Tuesday that Mark Pope as well as Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno, their two incoming freshman this cycle, will be heading to Colorado Springs on June 14th for training camp for the 2025 USA Basketball U19 National Team ahead of the FIBA World Cup in Switzerland starting at the end of June. Pope will be an on-court coach while Johnson and Moreno will be competing for spots on the roster that will go overseas to play in Europe.

.@CoachMarkPope, @BruhJasperJ, and @malachimoreno24 will be heading to the @usabasketball U19 Training Camp this summer.

📰🔗 – https://t.co/G1XTay7HWV pic.twitter.com/bjwmDM8PKs

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) May 20, 2025

“Kentucky basketball head coach Mark Pope and incoming freshmen Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno will take part in the 2025 USA Basketball U19 National Team training camp at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center beginning on June 14,” the release read. “Pope will serve in an on-court coaching role, while the freshmen are vying for spots on the 12-player roster on Team USA’s squad that will compete at the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup in Switzerland.”

This will be the debut for Pope working for Team USA. This will then be another international event for the pair of incoming recruits. Johnson secured a gold medal in the 2024 FIBA U19 AmeriCup, while Moreno has competed at a training camp with them before. Both then played on the USA Nike Hoop Summit Team, which earned a 124-114 win over the World Select Team last month.

Pope will work with the team, coached by Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd along with Texas Tech’s Grant McCasland and Notre Dame’s Micah Shrewsberry at the training camp on June 14th and 15th. He also will work with two others, specifically on-court coaches in Alabama’s Nate Oats and North Carolina’s Hubert Davis. Then, once the finalists are announced on the 16th and the roster is chosen on the 21st, Johnson and Moreno could be among the dozen headed to Switzerland to play from June 28th through July 6th, starting with group play against Australia, France, and Cameroon.

Pope is heading into the second season of his tenure at his alma mater at Kentucky. He led the Wildcats to a 24-12 (10-8) record, including tying a record for eight wins against the AP Top 25, this past year and took them back to the Sweet 16, their first time reaching the second weekend this decade, in the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

Johnson (Overtime Elite) and Moreno (Great Crossing) are then each in-state four-star recruits in the 2025 class. Johnson is at No. 25 overall as the No. 9 SG, while Moreno is at No. 28 overall as the No. 1 center in the cycle. That’s according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. They’ll now be part of what’s expected to be a top five to top 10 team come tip-off of next season in college basketball.

This is a great honor for this trio at UK in being able to represent the USA. It’ll also give them a chance to further work with one another ahead of these two’s freshman seasons under Pope in Lexington.