Top 10 recruit Trey Lyles commits to Kentucky over Louisville

Steven Jones | USA TODAY Sports

INDIANAPOLIS — Five-star power forward Trey Lyles announced his commitment to the University of Kentucky basketball team on Tuesday, giving coach John Calipari an important frontcourt piece to his 2014 class and a recruiting victory over rival Louisville.

The 6-foot-9 Lyles, one of the nation's most highly skilled big men, pledged to UK during a nationally televised announcement at his school, Arsenal Tech, citing Calipari's recent success for producing NBA players as a key reason in his decision.

Lyles is ranked as the nation's No. nation's No. 7 prospect by ESPN.com, No. 8 by Rivals.com and Scout.com and No. 17 by 247Sports.com.

He is a former Indiana University commitment who withdrew a 2-year-old pledge to the Hoosiers before his junior season. After the Wildcats and the Cardinals emerged almost immediately as favorites to land him, and he's been a priority target for both programs.

He also had considered Florida, Butler, UCLA and Duke during his recruitment.

Lyles is UK's fourth commitment in the 2014 class, joining five-star center Karl Towns Jr. of New Jersey, four-star shooting guard Devin Booker of Moss Point, Miss., and four-star point guard Tyler Ulis of Chicago.

Lyles made an official visit to Lexington the weekend of Oct. 18, when he attended UK's Big Blue Madness event for the second straight year. He also took an official visit to Louisville over Labor Day weekend.

Lyles averaged 17.5 points, 14 rebounds and 4.5 assists last season for Tech and is expected to break the school records for scoring and rebounding this season.

Lyles, who lived in Canada as a child, played for Team Canada in last summer's U19 World Championships, averaging 20.3 points per game — tied for second-most in the tournament.

Steve Jones also writes for The Courier Journal.