Mark Pope’s Kentucky Loses Recruiting Battle As Nikola Kusturica Reportedly Heading To Big Ten Program

Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats may have lost yet another big recruiting battle, this time to UCLA, as Serbian small forward Nikola Kusturica has reportedly chosen the Bruins over the Wildcats. This is the latest recruit who has slipped Mark Pope’s hands, after infamously losing No. 1 2026 prospect Tyran Stokes to Kansas.

UCLA had reportedly been the favorite to land the Serbian, but Pope had been making a deep push for him. In the end, Kusturica may have already chosen to go to Los Angeles and not Lexington.

There may be a lot of coaching connections in that reported decision though, as UCLA assistant coach and director of international scouting Nemjana Jovanovic is currently in Turkey to coach the Serbian FIBA U20 Team. At the same time, the FIBA U17 team, which Nikola Kusturica is part of, is also there. This just gives UCLA a much better recruiting advantage in the race for the small forward.

However, Kusturica still has not announced his commitment. Nevertheless, it seems that UCLA is in the driver’s seat and is just waiting for his announcement while he and UCLA’s chief international recruiter are in Turkey at the same time.

Barcelona Wanted To Keep Nikola Kusturica, But US College Teams Have Shown A Lot of Interest

As of now, aside from the Serbian U17 team, Nikola Kusturica is currently playing for FC Barcelona in Spain. However, local Spanish sports news site Sport.es is reporting that he is expected to tell Barca that he will be leaving as soon as the FIBA U17 World Cup in Turkey is over.

Barcelona has been planning to give him an increased role in the team, but offers from U.S. colleges keep on coming, with UCLA, Kentucky and North Carolina all making massive pushes for him, with UCLA being the projected winner.

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