5-star SF Will Riley begins official visit to Kentucky on Tuesday

The first high school official visitor of the Mark Pope era will arrive in Lexington this week.

Beginning on Tuesday, five-star class of 2025 wing Will Riley will stop at the University of Kentucky for an all-expenses paid visit that will run until Thursday. It is expected to be a busy week for the Top 10 prospect, who is also officially visiting Illinois (Monday) and Alabama (Thursday), according to 247Sports’ Travis Branham.

A 6-foot-9 native of Canada, Riley continues to consider reclassifying to 2024 and playing college basketball in the 2024-25 season. A decision on that could come after his visits wrap up. Kentucky would take him in either class.

For those unfamiliar, Riley was originally recruited to Kentucky under John Calipari and the previous coaching staff. But once Pope and Co. took over, Riley remained at the of the priority list. He was one of the first high school prospects to hear from the new Kentucky staff and quickly included the Wildcats in his updated Top 5 from late April.

Along with UK, Riley’s group of finalists also includes Arizona, Arkansas, Alabama, and the NBL. It’s notable that Arizona and Arkansas (Calipari’s new team) have yet to schedule visits — it’s always possible that could still happen, though.

Illinois was not previously included in the Top 5, but there is familiarity with the Illini through assistant Orlando Antigua, who was recruiting Riley when he was still coaching in Lexington. Antigua has been present at a handful of Riley’s AAU games this spring.

Speaking of AAU, Riley has been on a tear through four sessions on the Nike EYBL circuit. Across 15 games played, he’s averaging 21.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in 29.8 minutes per outing while shooting 49.6 percent overall, 31.7 percent from deep, and 79 percent from the line. He’s helped lead UPlay to a 9-6 record and a spot in July’s Peach Jam tournament.

Pope has one more scholarship to work with for 2024-25. Is Riley the one to take it?