The Lone Star State has served as a bit of a pipeline to Kentucky men’s basketball over the years. Former head coach John Calipari brought in plenty of Texas-grown players to Lexington during his tenure with the Wildcats. That hasn’t stopped with the Mark Pope era, either.
The latest Texas import is James Madison transfer Justin McBride, who hails from Plano, a city located about 20 miles north of Dallas. Growing up in that area as a high-level basketball player led him to connect with some big-name hoopers — plenty of them now in the NBA — who also came from Texas childhood backgrounds.
One of them was former Kentucky forward Julius Randle, who played for the Wildcats in 2013-14 before going on to be a top 10 NBA Draft pick. A three-time All-Star, he’s now with the Brooklyn Nets. The two are separated by several years in age, but both attended high school in the city of Plano and have grown that link into a personal relationship. They also share similar skill sets as bigger forwards with ball-handling capabilities.
It’s no coincidence that Pope said he sees “shades” of Randle in McBride in a recent video.
“Julius Randle is one of my guys I know that I’m really close with back in Dallas,” McBride told reporters on Thursday. “I talk to him a lot, train with him back in the summer, too. It’s just a dream (for Pope) to pick a guy like that, that plays kind of my style of play. I’m excited to prove to the people that I can really play at a SEC level.”
McBride and Randle first met when the former was just a sixth grader. Randle was thriving in high school at Prestonwood Christian — “it’s like a really rich school, but he played his butt off,” McBride added — while developing into a five-star talent. They’ve maintained a relationship ever since by staying in touch and getting in workouts back home. Randle has been an open ear for McBride during his transfer transition to Kentucky.
“He told me a lot of good things,” McBride said. “He had a great, successful career here. But just to play with confidence. Don’t worry about all the lights and stuff like that. Just play basketball. We’ve been playing all our lives, so just play. There’s nothing different than just putting the ball in the basket and just playing for my teammates and winning.”
McBride says that some of his earliest memories of the Wildcats include watching Randle during Kentucky’s run to the national championship game in 2014. He remembers watching some of the other Texas guys who went to UK, like De’Aaron Fox and PJ Washington. Another Texan he’s close with is Tyrese Maxey. McBride recalled working out with Maxey while the two were still in high school.
All these years later, McBride is the next Texas native in line to suit up for the Wildcats. It’s become a full-circle moment for the rising senior. Now it’s his turn to carry on that tradition.
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