Trent Noah, right, and Travis Perry competed against each other in high school and then roomed together last season at UK. (Les Nicholson Photo)
Travis Perry and Trent Noah were two Kentucky high school scoring phenoms who grew up playing against each other and finished their high school careers playing against each other in the state championship game won by Perry’s Lyon County team.
Perry won Mr. Basketball honors over Noah and signed with Kentucky. Noah signed with South Carolina, changed his mind and then signed with Kentucky when Mark Pope arrived.
Both players probably played more than even they expected in their rookie seasons and both played extremely well at times. However, Perry opted to leave Kentucky after his first season and transferred to Ole Miss, a move Noah admitted Monday was devastating to him.
Noah and Perry were roommates in their first collegiate season as college players. They bonded with freshman Collin Chandler and often had shooting contests. Most UK fans assumed all three would be back for the 2025-26 season before Perry entered the transfer portal at the last minute.
“I did everything I could to keep him here, he’s one of my good friends and he was an excellent player. But at the end of the day, you got to do what’s best for you, and that’s what he thought was best for him,” Noah said Monday.
“I love him and wish him the best, not looking forward to playing him, that’s for sure.”
Perry told his UK teammates what he was doing before the news became public knowledge.
“We definitely talked. We’re both freshmen and we lean on each other for little things,” Noah said. “That’s how just how it goes in this day and age of college basketball. You just try to put yourself in the best position and he thought Ole Miss was the best position, so I hope he has a great year.”
Chandler is from Utah but knew the love Perry had for UK. However, he also understood what his former teammate did by going to Ole Miss.
“I feel like God has a plan for people,” Chandler said. “That’s what he felt he needed to do for him and his life, which we all have to respect. It’s just gonna be sad when we have to beat up on him when we play him in SEC play.”
4 Responses
Travis was the low man on the totem pole and wanted to play more. He will have to improve his defense mightily to play for Beard. Maybe Beard can coach him up in that area. Trent is also the low man on the totem pole at his position, shooting guard or small forward, but has a better chance to play in the event of an injury. I hope he doesn’t get over recruited…again.
Travis Perry will be highly successful if Beard capitalizes on his strengths and develops set plays for Perry to shoot 8 three’s per game l – enough to get hia rhythm so he can hit close to 50%. A well structured offense can also take advantage of his ability to dish the ball and rack up assists – maybe 5 per game. He and Garrison connected in a lot of games, with each one setting hip the other for scoring on assists by each other.
Defense needs to be adjusted to take care of issues and that’s why the big men inside need to be ready when needed. A zone D is effective when properly taught. Boheim had a lot of very good teams using a zone for years.
Great coaches adapt their game – whether BB or FB – to get the most out of their talented players with specific gifts. Stoops was so bogged down mentally that he wanted Boom to run up the middle and get pounded over and over instead of running him to the outside. He was clueless about offense and clueless about adapting to get the most out of a talented player.
Coach Pope & his assistants did an incredible job ot preparing UK for a TEAM FIRST approach and it worked wonders for about 7 games, until some players became selfish (assists reveal the facts) and the overall greatness of the team fractured and started on their double digit losses. It was a subtle fracturing, but the post season was no match for the early season games. This season, with a lot of transfers whose connection and interest & ove for UK is virtually zero, is u fortunately a repeat of last season in the making. After some players secure their starting position, their selfish play will slowly take over and losses will mount up again. IF the players – ALL of them – would stick with the Coaches and only TEAM FIRST BALL, then UK will once again
have the potential to make the FF. But it’s not likely to hold for a full season.
The loss of Perry because of over-loading 1 & gone players, many with multiple school transfers behind them, is one of the biggest losses in UK history, Time will tell, but h was basically run off because he (and Noah) did not get enough PT in the first 10 games so they could adapt to college ball and be ready for SEC play instead of having to go up against the SEC thugs without mush college experience.
Perry May very well come back to Rupp Arena and do as Chris Lofton did – and out on show for the fans to see what was missed.
Over 1/2 century since graduating at UK and I turned down a coupe of lucrative offers to go elsewhere after doing co-op engineering for a big corporation. I wanted to stay at UK, but now it’s sad to see the program become an avenue for 2 & gone players with no real Kentucky links.
The interviews I have read and heard Pope did all he could to keep Perry at Ky. Now another home grown player says he tried everything to keep Perry here. Noah didn’t tuck his tail and run. Perry will soon learn the grass is not always greener on the other side. You can’t teach athleticism. It’s Pope’s job to have the best players he can get. Recruiting better players than is on the team is every coaches hope. The talk about selfish players on last years team is bull. Name the selfish players! That would fall on Pope’s shoulders if it were true. If Perry had left under Calipari, he would never hear the end of it. I’m glad Pope is his own man and doesn’t listen to the "basketball bennies".
The 2 Net Game Efficiency for Oweh & Jaxson were by far thr lowest of the 8 or 9 players who played the most minutes last season. They were near zero whereas some players were O.300 to 0.400. That stat exposes players who hurt the team more than they helped the team because of not sharing the ball (very low assists considering how many minutes they played) and taking ridiculous shots (acrobatic nonsense) which lowered their FG %. Carr, Williams & Butler were consistently among the best.
Teams which average 0.300 overall are the teams which are legitimate FF contenders. Players with extremely low NGE values pull the team average down and the result is a team lacking the team consistency to be a FF contender.
Pope is leagues ahead of the what UK was stuck with previously, and will prove to be one of the best in the nation. Nevertheless, it’s nearly impossible to keep a bunch of 1 & gone players without any UK connection willing to play 100.z% Tram First Ball for a full season. Players tend to drift back to their individual play as the season moves along.