Bryce Hopkins commits to Rick Pitino and St. John's

Prov-191317 — Photo by Dr. Michael Huang | Kentucky Sports Radio

Bryce Hopkins started his career playing for one former Kentucky coach. He’ll finish it playing for another former Kentucky coach.

He signed with the Wildcats in the 2021 class alongside the likes of Shaedon Sharpe, TyTy Washington and Daimion Collins while Oscar Tshiebwe was also an incoming transfer. Now, he’ll be taking his talents to St. John’s where he’ll be suiting up for none other than Rick Pitino.

On3’s Joe Tipton broke the news on Monday.

NEWS: Providence transfer forward Bryce Hopkins has committed to St. John’s, source told @On3sports.

The 6-7 senior averaged 17.0 points and 7.7 rebounds this season, appearing in only three games due to injury. https://t.co/zy53oNsU3X pic.twitter.com/dJIGiCGL0m
— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) March 31, 2025

Playing in 28 games for Kentucky as a freshman, the former four-star recruit would average 2.1 points and 1.4 rebounds in 6.4 minutes per contest before entering the transfer portal. He’d make his way to Providence as a Friar for year two, emerging as a star under Ed Cooley, averaging 15.8 points and 8.5 rebounds as a sophomore. That concluded with a head-to-head battle against his old school in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, the Cats holding him to seven points, eight rebounds and four turnovers in 39 minutes in the 61-53 win for the blue and white.

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Despite Cooley’s departure to Georgetown, Hopkins opted to return under new coach Kim English in 2023-24 and picked up right where he left off, averaging 15.5 points and 8.6 rebounds before tearing his ACL in January 2024 after just 14 games. Coming back the following season, he’d get back to game action in December 2024 and dominated, averaging 17.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists for the Friars. That run would last just three games, though, nagging knee injuries shutting him down for the season once again — 17 total games in two seasons.

Hopkins entered the transfer portal with a ‘do not contact’ tag, meaning he had some idea where he wanted to play in 2025-26, not wanting to deal with hundreds of texts and phone calls from interested schools.

Instead, his eyes were on Rick Pitino and the Red Storm.