"I'm pushing it. I'm going to get him. He's going to hear a lot from me," Lucas told Scout.com recruiting analyst Dave Telep.
The news got worse for Kentucky because 6-11 Beas Hamga, a native of Cameroon who originally committed to Iowa but changed his mind after coach Steve Alford left, announced he was going to Nevada-Las Vegas.
Hamaga had visited UK last weekend. He was also considering Indiana and New Mexico.
Might have to wait until spring
Lucas, Patterson and Hamaga were all recruited at Kentucky by former coach Tubby Smith before he left in late March to take the head job at Minnesota. Gillispie picked up the recruiting of all three when he arrived.
Gillispie wouldn't rule out having to wait until near the end of the spring signing period to fill his roster in future years.
"Sometimes we have filled our recruiting needs early, but I don't recall a year (at Texas A&M) we didn't go into the spring needing to sign some players, or a player. There are things that happen during the course of a year that you can't be prepared for," Gillispie said. "You can't be prepared for a guy leaving early or can't sign an additional player with anticipation of guy leaving early.
"A prospect may not turn out to be quite as good a player, or a guy might be wanting more playing time (and transfer). These things happen all the time in college basketball. You are not going to sign a bunch of guys early with the anticipation of those things happening. There is usually something that happens every single year to where most teams are still recruiting, maybe not this late in the period, but have to do some recruiting in the spring."
Gillispie said trying to fill recruiting needs too early can result in mistakes in talent evaluations or filling specific needs.
"We are not going to try and get it (recruiting) over with just to get it over with," Gillispie said. "You want to try and finish your recruiting each year. In a perfect world, it would be nice to address all your needs at an earlier time, but not just for the sake of getting something over with.
Uncomplicated
"We are not going to settle for players just so we can get recruiting over with. We are going to recruit the absolute best guys. We are going to hit on some and miss on some, but we are not going to be afraid to fail with the absolute best players. We will be aggressive as we can to get the best players we can to give us the best chance to win."
Gillispie says his recruiting philosophy is not complicated.
"You try to get the tallest, best player you can at every position. That doesn't mean you are always going to have tall players," he said. "Very emphatically I am saying the tallest, best player, but most importantly the best player at each position. I couldn't care less how tall somebody is or whatever, but in a perfect world if you can get the tallest, best player at that position would mean you are going the right way.
"But you just want to get players. It is our job as coaches to adjust to the players, and the best players can adjust more easily. Some guys you want versatility, some guys you want to play a definite position and be a specialist at that position, but versatility is normally preferred.
"In the past we have probably had to take guys who had something missing. We had to get overachieving type guys. We are never going to get away from that. We are going to get guys to overachieve no matter how highly they are thought of or how good they are as prospect. We are going to get the absolute best guys. That can never change."
