Former Wildcat Lance Ware enters transfer portal after one season at Villanova

Lance Ware is on the move once again.

Ware, who started his college career at Kentucky, has entered his name into the transfer portal, according to On3’s Jamie Shaw, for the second time after spending the 2023-24 season with Villanova. The 6-foot-9 forward came off the bench for Villanova, averaging 1.2 points and 2.3 rebounds in 10.5 minutes per outing across 33 games played.

From 2020-2023, Ware was a backup piece in the frontcourt for John Calipari at Kentucky. In 77 games played for the Wildcats (nine starts), he averaged 1.8 points and 2.2 rebounds in 9.2 minutes per contest. Ware will enter the portal with one year of college eligibility remaining.

Villanova senior Lance Ware has entered the transfer portal @On3sports has learnedhttps://t.co/DsbT6MKbKw pic.twitter.com/EBVy145ZBD

— Jamie Shaw (@JamieShaw5) April 5, 2024

Out of high school, Ware was a four-star recruit at Camden (NJ) High, the same school attended by DJ Wagner and Aaron Bradshaw, who were both freshmen at Kentucky this past season.

Ware showed promise at various points throughout his time in Lexington, highlighted by a 12-point outing against South Carolina State in 2022 and an eight-point, 10-rebound performance against Missouri in 2021, but never established himself as a primary big man. After averaging just 9.8 minutes per game as a junior in 2022-23, Ware elected to head back to the northeast.

At Villanova, Ware saw a similar role that he held at Kentucky. He played at least 20 minutes in a single game just once and finished with zero points in 20 different games. His best outing came against DePaul in January when he registered eight points, six rebounds, two assists, and one block in 16 minutes in a win. Ware played 346 total minutes in 2023-24, surpassing his previous career-high of 274 (2022-23).

Moving forward, he’ll have one more season to make a bigger impact as a graduate transfer.