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Former Kentucky forward Ugonna Onyenso withdraws from 2024 NBA Draft

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax05/29/24

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Ugonna Onyenso, Kentucky
Ugonna Onyenso, Kentucky - © Jordan Prather-USA TODAY Sports

Former Kentucky forward Ugonna Onyenso will withdraw from the 2024 NBA Draft, his agent Daniel Hazan told ESPN’s Jonathan Givony.

Onyenso is currently in the NCAA Transfer Portal after playing two seasons at Kentucky. His former coach, John Calipari, is now at Arkansas.

He spoke to Givony, who broke the news that he’d be leaving UK, declaring for the NBA Draft and hiring an agent. “I am ready to go to the next level. I’m not thinking about coming back to play college basketball. I’m 100% focused on the NBA,” Onyenso said at the time.

Onyenso averaged 14 minutes per game. During the season, he also averaged 3.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 0.2 assists per game. On the defensive side of the ball, he averaged 2.8 blocks and 0.3 steals per game.

He played his high school basketball at Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut and is a native of Nigeria. There, he was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2022, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services. He was also the fifth-ranked center in his class and the 31st-ranked player overall in that cycle.

Onyenso had reclassified to the Class of 2022, making him one of the youngest players with multiple years of college experience in the country at 19 years old.

In two seasons at Kentucky, Ugonna Onyenso played in 40 games and had 14 starts. All of those starts came during the 2023-24 season.

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Johnell Davis withdraws from 2024 NBA Draft, will play for Arkansas in 2024-25 season

Johnell Davis withdrew from the 2024 NBA Draft and will play for Arkansas for the 2024-25 college basketball season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Davis originally entered the NCAA transfer portal in early April and committed to Arkansas at the end of the month. However, he tested the NBA waters.

Davis played at Florida Atlantic before entering the portal and testing his draft stock. In 34 games last year, Davis finished with 18.2 points per game, 6.3 rebounds per game, 2.9 assists per game, shot 48.3% from the floor and 41.4% from three-point range.

As a member of the Class of 2020, Davis was not ranked, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He played his high school basketball in Gary (Ind.) at 21st Century Charter.

Earlier in May, Davis reportedly turned down an invite to the pre-draft G League Elite Camp and conducted private workouts instead.

On3’s Nick Kosko contributed to this report.