First-year Kentucky head coach Mark Pope added to his impressive first full high school recruiting class Saturday by landing a commitment from four-star point guard Acaden Lewis.
“I chose Kentucky because Coach Pope and his staff showed a great level of commitment to me,” Lewis told 247Sports’ Dushawn London. “He’s been to my barbershop, my rec center, my home, and got food with me. He’s been down here so much, showing me that I’m a priority and that I’m the point guard.
“Along with that [Kentucky assistant coach], Jason Hart is a coach who’s been with elite guards whether it was at Baylor or the G-League Ignite. He also played the position for a decade in the NBA. Overall they have a lot of great coaches (at Kentucky). Coach [Mark] Fox was just with Georgetown and has been at it for a while. He’s a mentor for a lot of coaches. The staff is just really established. I also love Coach Pope’s offense. He lets his guards rock out and I know I can excel.”
With Lewis on board, Kentucky’s 2025 high school recruiting class now ranks second best in the country only behind Duke as the 6-foot-2 Washington, D.C. product will join five-star combo guard Jasper Johnson and four-star center Malachi Moreno in Lexington.
“I think it’ll be great playing next to Jasper,” Lewis told London about pairing up with Johnson in the backcourt. “It’s already weird to go up against one lefty but two is really weird. He’s unorthodox and I’m a little unorthodox. The stuff I’m not good at he is. I’m not the best shooter but he’s a knockdown shooter. I’m a little better of a playmaker than he is. I think we’ll work off each other really well.”
Here’s a look at Lewis’ prep career thus far, how Kentucky won his recruitment and what those who know his game best expect him to perform in Lexington.
Lewis plays his high school basketball at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C.
In his junior high school season last winter, he averaged 14.5 points per game, 5.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.5 steals. He shot 48.0 percent from the field and 33.0 percent from three. The year earned him Washington D.C. Gatorade Player of the Year Award honors.
“Acaden really impressed me this year,” Chuck Driesell, head coach at rival The Maret School said of Lewis’ junior season. “The things he did were at a high level. I saw for the first time that he is truly a high-major prospect. His size for his position is the most difficult thing to defend. It sets him apart at the high school level.”
In EYBL action this past summer, playing in front of Pope and several college coaches, Lewis suited up for Team Durant and, in 15 games, averaged 16.7 points per game, 6.1 assists, and 4.9 rebounds
Per 247sports’ 2025 rankings, Lewis is the class of 2025’s 32nd best player, the fifth-best point guard in the class, and the top prospect from Washington, D.C.
His full list of offers included Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, UConn, Michigan, Virginia, Georgetown, Florida State, Auburn, Cincinnati, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Kansas,
Lewis’ final four came down to bluebloods as Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina and UConn made the final cut for the four-star guard and on decision day, Lewis wound up picking between Kentucky, Duke and UConn and selected Pope and the Cats.
“They want me to come in and play a priority role right away,” Lewis told London. “There’s a starting spot and he wants me to take it. I want to come in and run the team. My whole career I really just figured out how to play point guard and this last year and a half I figured it out in high school. I needed a situation on the biggest stage where I had time to figure it out. Not everybody is going to come in and be the guy right away. It’ll be an adjustment and Coach Pope will let me go through that adjustment.”
“Coach Pope’s newness to the team was one of the bigger things you have to look at as a recruit. “I looked at how he did at BYU. I saw practices, and scrimmage highlights to see how everything looks. He was an established coach at BYU. He did a really good job and had a good vision for Kentucky. I’ve talked basketball with him and he’s really knowledgeable. I’m taking a chance but throughout my career, I’ve taken chances and it’s paid off for me.”
Kentucky guard.
“Lewis is a lefty lead guard who is extremely talented with the ball. He has soft hands and natural touch that are the foundation of a very advanced skill set. His handle is tight, he’s a lay-up maker with both hands, and he has soft floaters and tough pull-ups alike in the mid-range area,” Finkelstein wrote. “While Lewis connected on just 31% of his threes during EYBL play, he’s a much better shooter than those numbers indicate. He made 83% of his free throws, attempted nearly seven threes per game, and projects as someone who not only has gravity spotting up but can be a movement shooter as well.
“In total, there isn’t much Lewis can’t do with the ball in his hands, but the area where he’s shown the most growth is in becoming a true lead guard and making those around him better. He still has a high-volume approach with the ball in his hands, and is generally more focused on throwing assists than he is otherwise moving the ball, but his floor vision and delivery both impressed this year as he finished in the top three in the EYBL in assists. He’s a threat coming off screens, both on and off the ball, but has a tendency to stand and watch without the ball in his hands unless it’s a pre-determined action.”
How does Lewis fit at Kentucky?
“Mark Pope continues to demonstrate that his iteration of the Kentucky basketball program will have no problem landing highly coveted national prospects. More than that though, he’s getting the right type of prospects for the way he wants to play. It’s well-known that BYU shot more threes than they did twos last season, and while no one expects quite the same recipe at Kentucky, it’s clear that Pope values offensive skill and an analytically driven approach. Lewis, like Johnson and Moreno, fit those types of schemes.
Finding the balance between fit and sheer talent is also particularly important for Pope given that this is his first full recruiting class. Last spring, he walked into a situation where he had to rebuild the entire roster, and that required him to invest in a number of one-year grad transfers. While that initial group should make the Wildcats competitive right away this year, it also made the strength of this 2025 recruiting class of vital importance.”
