Kentucky reaches out to UConn center Eric Reibe

Remember Eric Reibe? He was a top Kentucky target out of high school before Mark Pope made his push for Malachi Moreno and he ultimately signed with Dan Hurley and UConn. Both sides won the trade, the former earning SEC All-Freshman honors as a Wildcat and the latter making a run to the Final Four with the Huskies.

Moreno will be returning to Lexington if he does not keep his name in the NBA Draft. Could Reibe join him? Pope reached out to the 7-1 center shortly after he entered the transfer portal this week, spending just one season in Storrs before exploring his options. He averaged 5.9 points and 3.3 rebounds per contest with five starts as a rookie, but wants to see just how green the grass is on the other side.

On3’s Jamie Shaw believes Kentucky is a school to watch for the former four-star with BYU and Indiana among the others in contention.

“This one is brand new, and more schools are certain to inquire with an attempt to jump in,” Shaw wrote.

A source close to the situation tells KSR’s Jacob Polacheck that Reibe’s talk with the Wildcats went well and Pope was “super classy” when the former top-30 prospect made the decision to go to UConn, which is “going a long way now.”

Get the On3 Top 10 Newsletter in your inbox every morning

By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.

“I really like Coach (Mark) Pope and how he contacts me,” Reibe previously said of the Wildcats. “He calls me like every single day, and with him being a big man, he knows how I feel and how I think on and off the court. I think he could be a good mentor for me. They see me as a shooter in their system. They like how I run the floor and that I can take early threes and play inside out, handoffs, and making the passes.”

Reibe was the first Huskie to put his name in the transfer portal following the team’s loss in the national championship game this week. He had a 15-point, two-block effort in a battle of future Final Four teams back in November — a 71-67 loss to Arizona.

Could the former McDonald’s All-American join Moreno in the Kentucky frontcourt in 2026-27? Pope is at least exploring the possibility.