SerpApi.Org
2028 four-star guard Brady Pettigrew led the entire Nike EYBL 16U circuit at Peach Jam, averaging an event-high 23.6 points per game to go with 5.0 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 2.0 assists while shooting 47.2 percent from the field, 46.2 percent from three and 77.8 percent at the line. His biggest individual moment came in a game-winner vs. Jamal Crawford and his son, JJ, on day three, hitting the clutch and-one jumper to tie it as time expired and icing it with a make at the line to end it after the final horn.
He saved his best for last, too, scoring 26 points, then 32 in his final two games in North Augusta.
The 6-foot-3 point guard, ranked No. 16 overall and No. 2 at his position by Rivals, told KSR during the event that he felt a Kentucky offer was coming — along with some of the other bigger names in the college basketball world.
“All of the big blue bloods, they feel really close,” he said.
Fast forward to the end of the event, and the Wildcats have pulled the trigger on a scholarship, with the top-20 talent announcing the offer on Tuesday.
“Blessed to receive an offer from the university of Kentucky!!” the first-ever Peach Jam 16U MVP wrote on social media.
It’s a meaningful move on the heels of a meaningful statement the Kentucky coaches made at Peach Jam for Pettigrew specifically. The day before the live period, the staff called him and said they’d be watching his games closely. And then to open evaluations, the Wildcats were there, front and center.
“Last night, I talked to them. They said they’re gonna pull up today, and they did that,” Pettigrew told KSR on Thursday. “It speaks to me, standing on your word is big. If you have trust with coaches, that goes a long way in these games. It’s hard to trust a freshman when you can go grab a 30-year-old European, so if you have trust with the coach, that’s big.”
The four-star guard — and future five-star — will be the first to tell you he was surprised to hear Pope on the other end of the line going into the live period. He had produced throughout the EYBL regular season (24.8 PPG on 49/26/74 splits), so it was deserved, but to actually speak with him directly was a ‘culture shock,’ he says.
Pope is leading the charge alongside Mo Williams, unsurprisingly. And things are going very well.
“I talked to (Pope). It’s a little culture shock, because a coach like that can be talking to anybody at any time — he’s that guy in college basketball,” Pettigrew told KSR. “To talk to someone like him, that’s big for me. It lets me know I’m gonna be on go every time I step on the court. … Him and Mo (Williams), we’re building a really good relationship. Right now, I’m still kind of young, so building relationships is big for me.
“Offers don’t really bedazzle me, because you can offer and not speak to me ever again. Keeping contact with me is really big, and he’s doing a great job with that.”
Up next? Visits. He’s already taken unofficials to Illinois, Memphis and Missouri, but now, he’s ready to start hitting some of the biggest names and towns in the sport.
That includes a trip to Lexington.
“I should be visiting all of the blue bloods — going to Duke, UNC, Kansas, Kentucky,” he said. “I’m going to Indiana, Illinois again, then Texas.
Something he’ll be monitoring closely on these trips? I promise it’s something you’ve never heard before in one of these recruiting interviews: allergies.
“People don’t know this about me, but I have really bad allergies. I want to get out there and see how it is on campus — I swear, I’m not even joking. I actually visited a school and it was too dry, so I Xed them out. That, and I’d say the community. I want to see if it’s dead, no one’s really smiling, just the little things with everyday life. When you’re a basketball player picking a school, you’re thinking about basketball and coaches, but there’s more than basketball in college.
“When I go on that visit, I want to see everything else — almost everything but basketball. Because I can find out about the basketball side really easily.”
We had to circle back on the allergies, obviously. How do those conversations with schools go? Are there workarounds? Are coaches getting NIL deals with Claritin set up ahead of these recruiting pitches?
Pettigrew dug deeper on what was truly a first for media members in the scrum.
“It’s pollen, trees, and then — this is actually a shocker — but a lot of people have dogs and cats. The fur will make me just break out. I can’t breathe. … I had (that conversation) with Texas. It’s kind of dry and I talked to them, they said there are a lot of ways around it and they’re gonna make sure I’m good if I go there. It’s not hard to battle around, but it’s enough of a thing you have to look at. Why go there if I’m going there for seven or eight months, maybe another year, and it’s miserable?”
It’s not a total deal-breaker — “If I really love the school, I can battle through it” — but it’s safe to say he’s out on some climates.
“I just can’t in the desert,” he joked.
Kentucky at least has that going for it, right? There are very few places in the country more beautiful than Lexington in the fall and spring.
Make sure to keep that in your notes, Coach Pope.
