Mark Pope on Jasper Johnson, Malachi Moreno at Team USA camp: ‘Jaw-dropping great’

While serving as an assistant on the USA Men’s U19 National Team this year, Kentucky head coach Mark Pope is getting to spend extra time with his incoming freshmen, Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno. On Monday, Pope revealed how Johnson and Moreno have performed at the Team USA training camp.

“It was awesome,” Pope said. “It’s the first time I’ve been allowed to coach them, so that was the best part. It’s like a sneak-peek into what’s going to be. And both those guys, what a show they put on for those four sessions.

“They were both incredible, like jaw-dropping great. So, the chance to coach them, the chance to be in some live-play, some competition against other players, other great players, I loved that part. And I loved getting to see their competitiveness come out, their fearlessness come out, their hearts come out.”

Johnson and Moreno are each four-star prospects in the 2025 recruiting cycle. Johnson, in particular, is expected to be a significant contributor in the upcoming season at Kentucky. Evidently, Johnson looked the part in the opening days of the training camp.

“Minus the miscues in the first session, where Jasper turned it over a couple of times… He was incredible,” Pope said. “He’s facing this backcourt group has some of the elite defenders — almost like NBA-level defensive players and he seemed completely immune to that pressure — he was so slippery.

“His decision making was elite, he shot the ball great, he came up with tough rebounds, he kind of showed it all over the floor. He had a great showing… It was fun to see his ability to manage physicality and pressure in the half court. I thought it was really impressive with the ball in his hands.”

Johnson made the 18-man cut for the team and will continue to compete to be on the final 12-man roster. Malachi Moreno wasn’t as lucky. However, Mark Pope was still happy with the young big man’s showing.

“Malachi was unbelievable,” Pope said. “My gosh, his Sunday morning session was ridiculous, I’m talking about head-spinning good. With this elite-level talent all around the court and in the frontline, I don’t know if I’ve seen a guy dominate eight feet and in like he did. Blocking shots, verticality, on the glass, coming up with extra possessions, rolling hard for dunks… It was spectacular.

“He was in such a rhythm that in transition defense a couple of times, he just was timing up his steps to go send balls into the fourth row. And this is against the best 19 years olds in the world. He was really impressive, man. I thought he had an incredible showing. There was a lot of conversation about Malachi Moreno out here.”