In-state 4-star center Malachi Moreno announces Kentucky offer

The top-rated high school junior in the Bluegrass State finally received his Kentucky offer.

On Saturday night, four-star center Malachi Moreno announced on social media that he earned a scholarship from the Wildcats. The 6-foot-11, 200-pound big man plays out of Georgetown (KY) Great Crossing and is considered the No. 41 overall prospect from the 2025 class, per the On3 Industry Ranking.

Moreno took his second unofficial visit to UK in under two weeks on Saturday after having stopped in Lexington for Big Blue Madness earlier this month. The offer didn’t come in following BBM, but it didn’t take much longer for the good news to finally break. Moreno also holds offers from the likes of Tennessee, Indiana, Iowa, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Cincinnati, Arkansas, Alabama, Ohio State and many more.

“Excited & humbled to receive an offer from the University of Kentucky! Thank you to Coach Calipari, Coach Antigua, Coach Martin, and the rest of the staff for believing in me! Go Cats! #BBN”

Malachi Moreno (X/Twitter)

Excited & humbled to receive an offer from the University of Kentucky! Thank you to Coach Calipari, Coach Antigua, Coach Martin, and the rest of the staff for believing in me! Go Cats! #BBN 🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/8xlrHqoNCA

— Malachi Moreno (@malachimoreno24) October 29, 2023

Since the summer began, Moreno has taken just one official visit, which was to Iowa at the beginning of October. He’s taken plenty of unofficial visits though to the likes of Arkansas (Sept. 9), Cincinnati (Sept. 16), Notre Dame (Sept. 23), Tennessee (Sept. 30), Michigan (Oct. 14), and Ohio State (Oct. 21) in addition to his pair of unofficial Kentucky visits.

The Wildcats coaching staff had eyes on Moreno for a while now, too. This offer was no surprise. Assistant coaches Orlando Antigua and Chuck Martin have been in constant communication with Moreno, who also watched a Kentucky practice back in June.

“They’ve been pretty hard on me, but they’re one of the only ones that haven’t offered me yet. I think once I show I’m more physical and become a tougher player, eventually it’ll come,” Moreno recently told KSR. “They say they like me and want to keep in touch. What they’ve told others is I need to be tougher and more physical, so that’s what I’m going to work on.”

After an impressive summer on the Adidas 3SSB AAU circuit for Indiana Elite, expectations are going to be high for Moreno entering his junior season at Great Crossing. He averaged 14.8 points, 11.4 rebounds, and 4.8 blocks per game on nearly 65 percent overall shooting as a sophomore. The Warhawks will likely start 2023-24 as one of the state’s top-ranked teams.

Kentucky has yet to pick up a commitment from anyone in the 2025 class, but head coach John Calipari sounds confident that will change dramatically at some point. Moreno is one of nine high school juniors with an offer from the Wildcats and the only one ranked outside of the On3 Industry Ranking’s top 20.