Kentucky’s John Calipari Watches Kevin Knox

Kentucky coach John Calipari and assistant Kenny Payne are the latest high-profile coaches to watch Kevin Knox.

The Kentucky coaches watched the 6-foot-8 Knox go for 22 points and five rebounds in a 77-60 loss to DeAndre Ayton and Hillcrest Prep (AZ) in the championship game of the John Wall Holiday Invitational on Friday night.

Ayton, the 7-1 Arizona signee, finished with 30 points and 13 rebounds en route to Most Valuable Player honors, while Knox, who was tasked with guarding Ayton, was named Most Outstanding Player.

“I think overall it was great for us to come up here and play against great talent,” Knox said, per USA Today. “I didn’t have my best game this game, but that’s something that I can work on. Hopefully we’ll all learn from this loss and go back to Tampa and win regionals and states.”

Kentucky already has a five-man class of guards Quade Green and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander along with forwards Jarred Vanderbilt, P.J. Washington and Nick Richards.

Kentucky remains in the mix for Knox, shooting guard Hamidou Diallo, who took an official visit earlier this week and is looking to enroll next month, and 7-footer Mohamed Bamba. Green told ZAGSBLOG he is recruiting Knox, Diallo and Bamba.

UNC coach Roy Williams and Duke associate head coach Jeff Capel watched Knox on Thursday in the semifinals, as did former Kentucky star John Wall.

Kentucky’s John Calipari & Kenny Payne have arrived for 5?Kevin Knox’ game at #TheJohnWall Championship against 5?DeAndre Ayton pic.twitter.com/plFOFh1x4L

— Andrew Slater (@ASlater247) December 30, 2016

Knox is considering Duke, North Carolina, Florida State and Kentucky. He has taken only one official, to Duke in November. Next up is Florida State next weekend (Jan. 7-9).

After that, Knox is slated to take officials to Kentucky (Jan. 28-30) and UNC (Feb. 4-6).

He visited the campuses of both Duke (for practice) and North Carolina (for the Monmouth game) on Wednesday while in North Carolina.

“I want to commit after the season,” Knox said last week at the City of Palms Classic. “I want to slow everything down and just take my time with it.”

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