Tounde Yessoufou schedules Kentucky official visit for Big Blue Madness

One of Kentucky’s top recruiting targets in 2025 has scheduled his official visit to Lexington. Tounde Yessoufou, a five-star forward ranked No. 11 overall nationally by On3, will be in town for Big Blue Madness the weekend of October 11, he tells KSR+.

HS Top Recruits was the first to break the news.

Yessoufou announced back in July he was down to ten schools, Kentucky joining Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, Kansas, Tennessee, UCLA, UConn, USC, and Washington among finalists.

The 6-6 wing previously told KSR that Kentucky helped him fall in love with basketball as a native of West Africa, calling it his dream school.

“Nobody in my family ever played basketball, I just saw it and loved it,” he said. “I knew I wanted to put my heart into it. Coming to the United States, Kentucky was definitely the main thing I watched on social media and doing my research. I feel like it’s a great opportunity to be around people like that. … That was my dream school when I came to the United States.”

Pope prioritized him shortly after taking the Kentucky job with the first-year head coach’s energy standing out. He believes that will be the reason he keeps the program among the best of the best in college basketball — something he’s interested in being a part of.

“He has amazing energy. I love being around coaches like that. Kentucky is a great program — for me, it’s top-10 in the country, definitely,” he said. “With his history — you know, he used to play over there — so he brings a lot. … You can tell he’s a person who is outgoing, and he’ll tell you things you need to work on. That’s one of the things I like about coaches now, not only telling you what you’re good at, but also what you need to improve on. His energy, man. His energy is just amazing. Just being around coaches like that, I feel like he’d push me hard to be the best I can be. I love him.”

Despite being a top target from the new staff right away, he received his official offer back on July 23 following the conclusion of Peach Jam. There, he told KSR that Kentucky would be getting his final official visit — a request from the Wildcats — after taking trips to Baylor (Aug. 31) and Tennessee (Sept. 14). He previously took officials to Arizona (June 16) and Southern California (June 25), as well.

The Wildcats are seen as one of the top contenders to land his commitment. Can they seal the deal with the five-star wing? They’ll get that opportunity when they host him for Big Blue Madness in October.