Kentucky Men’s Basketball Adds Alex Wilkins
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky men’s basketball program added Alex Wilkins to the 2026-27 roster on Thursday. Wilkins averaged 17.8 points and 4.7 assists per game for Furman, which advanced to the NCAA Tournament this past season.
Wilkins led Furman in scoring and assists as a freshman en route to earning second-team All-Southern Conference accolades and National Association of Basketball Coaches All-South Atlantic District First Team honors.
The 6-foot-5 guard captured most outstanding player honors at the SoCon Tournament after helping Furman to the title. Wilkins scored a combined 65 points in three victories, averaging 21.7 points per game. He had a career-high 34 points in the semifinal win over UNC Greensboro. The 34 points tied a Furman freshman single-game scoring record, and it was the most points scored for Furman in the SoCon Tournament since Roy Simpson had 36 vs. East Carolina in the 1972 championship game.
Wilkins scored 622 points during his freshman campaign, the most ever by a Furman first-year player. In 35 games played, he reached double figures in 29 games and topped the 20-point plateau 14 times.
In a matchup vs. the eventual national runner-up in UConn in the NCAA Tournament, Wilkins had 21 points in 35 minutes. He made 8-of-15 shots, including going 4 of 8 from behind the arc. He added four assists and a steal for the Paladins.
The Mattapan, Massachusetts native, was a finalist for both the Kyle Macy National Freshman of the Year award and the Lou Henson Mid-Major Player of the Year honor.
Wilkins shot 45.8% from the field, 32.1% from 3-point range and 83.5% at the free-throw line. He connected on 116 of 139 shots from the line for the season and had 14 games with at least five trips.
Other notable performances during his freshman season include 21 points against East Tennessee State. He had 33 points and five assists, along with draining six 3s against Chattanooga. He posted 20 points and three assists vs. Samford following a game in which he had 27 points and six assists at UNC Greensboro. He had 28 points and five assists in the team’s first matchup on the road at Samford. He had three straight games of 20 or more from Dec. 21 through Jan. 3 against Charleston Southern, Mercer and Western Carolina. Wilkins had his first stretch of 20-plus performances in games vs. Queens, Richmond and Illinois State in November. Wilkins first topped the 20-point threshold in the third game of the season with 26 points vs. Columbia International. He had five or more assists 19 times and drained three or more 3s in nine games.
In high school, Wilkins helped the Brooks School to the Class B state title while capturing NEPSAC Class B Player of the Year honors. He scored 25.1 points per game, hauled in 4.4 boards per game and dished out 3.2 assists per game as a senior. Wilkins averaged 18.5 points and 2.4 assists per game as a junior, while shooting nearly 40% from 3-point range and more than 90% at the free-throw line. He was ranked as the No. 3 player in the 2025 class by the New England Recruiting Report.
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