Jayden Quaintance will finally be a Wildcat.

One year opting to attend Arizona State rather than Kentucky after signing with the Wildcats, due to John Calipari's departure, Quaintance is transferring back to Lexington.

That's after a freshman year with the Sun Devils that saw him flash potential but go down with an injury. Quaintance went down with a torn ACL in February so his recovery timetable will be a big topic of interest but the brings some clear skills to the court when he's healthy.

Quaintance led the Pac-12 with 2.6 blocked shots in 29.7 minutes on average. He saw action in 24 games. Quaintance scored 9.4 points and grabbed 7.9 rebounds per game. He shot 52.5% from the field, 18.8% from three-point range, and 47.9% from the free throw line.

Paired with Alabama transfer forward Mouhamed Dioubate, also recently added from the transfer portal, Quaintance figures to improve Kentucky's rebounding and defensive efforts on the low block.

Quaintance scored 18 points (8/11 FG) and had seven rebounds in his last game of the season, a 66-54 February win at Kansas State. The game before, he had no points and two rebounds in 13 minutes in a loss to Houston. That spoke to the kind of season which included typical ebbs and flows for a freshman, but the potential is undeniable and Quaintance was the No. 8-ranked recruit from the 2024 class nationally.

His addition moves Kentucky closer to being a finished product looking ahead to Mark Pope's second season with the Cats.