Malachi Moreno ready to raise the bar in Mark Pope's second season: "We're going to win a lot."

Before he makes it to campus for his freshman season, Kentucky signee Malachi Moreno has a few more high school events to take care of. Chief among them is this week’s McDonald’s All-American Game in Brooklyn, NY, where the seven-footer is one of 24 boys set to participate.

Moreno actually arrived in New York a couple of days late. He had some unfinished business to take care of first in Rupp Arena. Behind a terrific run of four wins in three days, Moreno led Great Crossing to a state tournament victory. In Saturday’s championship against Bowling Green, the top 30 national recruit finished with 24 points (10-11 FG), 15 rebounds, three blocks, and two assists while playing all 32 minutes. Great Crossing took down Bowling Green 71-61 to win the school’s first-ever state title.

The folks at McDonald’s were kind enough to let Moreno show up late to the event in order to wrap up his time with the Warhawks. He wasted no time making an impression once he did show up, though. On3’s Jamie Shaw named Moreno, who arrived Sunday morning via plane, the second-best performer he saw during Sunday night’s scrimmage.

“It’s truly a blessing,” Moreno said Monday of being named a McDonald’s All-American. “This is definitely something you dream of as a little kid. Just growing up watching your heroes be McDonald’s All-Americans. Just being able to have this opportunity definitely meant a lot to me.”

Moreno is one of three commits locked in for Mark Pope‘s second season as head coach, but he’s the only one who made the McDonald’s All-American Game. Guards Jasper Johnson and Acaden Lewis were left off the team, but Moreno was asked during his media session Monday what it will be like to eventually team up alongside Johnson, who was born and raised in the Bluegrass State just like Moreno, during the 2025-26 season.

“It means a lot. Growing up in the state of Kentucky, you always want to play at the University of Kentucky,” Moreno said. “And just being able to team up with Jasper, we’ve played against each other our entire lives, and now we get to put on the same jersey and we get to rock out together. It means a lot.”

On a larger scale, Moreno is excited about what his first season at Kentucky will hold. After Pope brought in plenty of success during his first season in charge (the most Top 25 wins in program history capped off with a Sweet 16 appearance), expectations will be even higher in year two.

But Moreno is ready to embrace all that comes with it.

“My biggest takeaway was definitely how he could build a team so quick and get into a new job,” Moreno said of Pope’s first season as head coach. “Especially to that caliber of a job, I think he did an amazing job and I think that just shows — next season, it’s going to be completely different, but at the same time it’s going to be the same. We’re coming in, we’re going to work hard, we’re going to win a lot, and we’re going to make some noise like he did this year.“