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DeGregorio joins UK as walk-on; grandson of Calipari’s college coach averaged 17.9 ppg


The University of Kentucky basketball team has added Isaac DeGregorio out of North Catholic High School in Pittsburgh to its roster.

DeGregorio, a point guard, will join the team for the 2020-21 season as a walk-on.

DeGregorio averaged 17.9 points per game as a senior for North Catholic this past season and led his high school to a 26-2 record and the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League Class 3A championship.

The 5-foot-11 Pennsylvania product was a prolific scorer, distributor and shooter at North Catholic, where he totaled 1,563 career points, 440 assists and made 283 3-pointers at a 40 percent clip.

UK has added Isaac DeGregorio (55) out of North Catholic High School in Pittsburgh to its 2020-21 roster.

“Joining Kentucky basketball is a dream come true,” DeGregorio said. “I’ve been a Kentucky fan all my life and to join the team is surreal. The opportunity to be around the best players and coaches in the nation is something I just couldn’t pass up. I’m looking forward to getting to Lexington and getting in the gym with my teammates.

“My dream is to become a college basketball coach and there is no better way to prepare for that than being around the best.”

The DeGregorio name may sound familiar to Kentucky fans. Isaac’s grandfather, Joe DeGregorio, was John Calipari’s college coach at Clarion during the 1981 and 1982 seasons.

“Isaac is a terrific basketball player who led his team to the regional WPIAL championship,” Calipari said. “They had a real chance to win state. Isaac had a terrific year and has a tremendous basketball IQ to go along with a great skill set, neither of which should be a surprise with the basketball family he comes from.

“I played for his grandfather in college and over the years got to know his father, who is a terrific coach in his own right. Isaac will be a great addition to what we do here, and I look forward to him being a part of this program.”

DeGregorio was in the midst of leading North Catholic on an impressive run through the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association 3A state tournament before the COVID-19 pandemic suspended play in the quarterfinals round.

In the first two rounds, DeGregorio posted scoring totals of 33 and 25, respectively. In the WPIAL championship, he scored 19 points and made all 10 of his free-throw attempts.

DeGregorio is the seventh member of the 2020 class. All six of Kentucky’s signing haul – Devin Askew, BJ Boston, Terrence Clarke, Cam’Ron Fletcher, Isaiah Jackson and Lance Ware – are consensus five- and four-star prospects. Boston and Clarke are ranked the highest in the class with Boston checking in at No. 4 in Rivals’ rankings and Clarke placing No. 4 in 247Sports’ rankings.

UK’s current class is ranked No. 1 by every major recruiting service.

In every season during the Calipari era, the Wildcats have signed a top-three recruiting class according to the Recruiting Services Consensus Index, which tallies major recruiting rankings and plugs them into a formula to calculate a consensus ranking. With the fall additions, Kentucky has signed 59 top-50 recruits, 46 top-25 players and 25 top-10 players (according to Rivals) in what will now be Calipari’s 12 recruiting classes at Kentucky.

From UK Athletics Communications


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