Trent Noah, right, hopes to become a “steals guy” for Kentucky this season. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Trent Noah was a prolific scorer at Harlan County High School where he averaged 29.9 points per game during his senior season when his team reached the state championship game and he finished with 3,707 points, the fifth best mark in state history. He averaged 32.3 points per game in four state tournament games and hit a tournament record 19 threes.
Last year at UK he played in 24 games averaging 2.7 points and 1.9 rebounds per game as a freshman. Noah had eight games with three or more rebounds and had a season-high 11 points in a key win over Tennessee when he became just the third player in program history to connect on three or more 3’s off the bench against an AP Top 5 opponent.
Noah worked to get “bigger, stronger, faster” in the offseason like coach Mark Pope wanted him to do. He says “continuing to bring gravity on the floor, to open up driving lanes” is what he knows he needs to do.
However, Pope has also talked to him about “locking down the defensive end.” That’s a part of Noah’s game that has been overshadowed by his offensive prowess.
“He (Pope) thinks I can be a really good steals guy. He talks about the defensive IQ, and then the defensive abilities, kind of two different things,” Noah said. “He thinks that I have a really good defensive IQ, and if I can just put those two together then he sees a strong defender in me.”
So what would it take for Noah to become a “steals guy” for Pope?
“I guess here and there take some more chances, maybe shoot a gap or two, kind of doing things a little outside of the box,” the UK sophomore said. “Otega (Oweh) is really good. He’s supposed to be here, but he takes a shortcut and it ends up well. I guess you just gotta take a little risk and see the play ahead.
“Last year, especially at the beginning, I thought I was very behind. I was just trying to hang in there and trying to pick up on the game. Now I have a year under my belt. I know where I need to be, and then hopefully it puts me in the right position before the ball even comes.”
8 Responses
Trent, your playing time will come at the start of the season. Make the most of it; be a difference maker. Doing so will make it harder for Pope to play others at your positions. You have Oweh who will be the starting 2 guard and Dioubate who will start at the 3. Williams will be pushing for PT at the 3 and Johnson at the 2. Show coach Pope that you have earned the right to be on the floor…defend, rebound, pass, but take the shots that come to you…and make them! Coach Pope wants more 3s taken and made. Don’t be timid; you can make that shot all night long. Make your freethrows; SEC play gets physical. Coach Pope will treasure a guy who gets to the line and makes them! Pope will give you the opportunity to do this early on, but you have to show him that you are too valuable to sit on the bench…regardless of who else is sitting there. Push Oweh and Dioubate to be better starters. Show coach Pope that you can play either position. Be ready to take either of their spots if they should get hurt or sick. You are a returning Wildcat; be a leader. Make BBN proud and bring home number 9. Trent, this is your time to shine!
If Noah improves on his 3 point % and gets better at defense, be will thrive the next 3 years in blue and white. Knowing that he wasn’t ready to play last year is the first step in getting better. He wants to get better and make thing happen at Kentucky. Noah can be a 4 year staple here at Kentucky. Like we actually see him getting better and better every year. His junior year he will carve out a major role on the team and as a senior he will start.
Pope has proven he does not give players significant minutes in the early games unless they are his chosen starters and those with experience before transferring to UK. That’s just based on history – 1 year only, but that’s all to go on.
This season is u unfortunately lining up to be a repeat of last season. A lot of players will work hard to listen and prove they are willing to be a TEAM FIRST player, and they will last 5 to 10 games before it starts to slide when some players shift their focus to themselves first. Last season the A:TO ratio was amazing for about 5 to 7 games, maybe 10, and then when it began to look less and less like a TEAM stat, the double digit losses started to roll in.
Very few of the transfers in this Wild West transfer take over will be loyal to any team. They will only play TEAM ball early season and then begin to worry about their “future.”
Coach Pope & his assistants did an incredible job when they took a load of non-star players and made a machine that worked so smooth and seamlessly with TEAM FIRST their focus. It’s sad that those same players who were given a chance to be a FF team forgot TEAM FIRST.
Transfers seldom really lock into a program they are just using to try to boost their future to play in the NBA or overseas.
The young BBN fans may never know that UK truly meant UK for decades and decades before it became a halfway station for players jumping from team to team.
I think this is a great analysis based on first year data and what we saw. I thought the same thing. The person who is focused on #9 is Pope. I don’t know if you can get the buy in from the team. Noah will be on board because he’s true blue. Perry saw the writing on the wall. He was never going to get good enough to play in the SEC on defense and that will not change at Ole Miss. He might be a Cameron Mills type of guy by the time he is a senior and be a three point assassin but he’ll never be able to guard SEC guards….Noah can I think..
Excellent comments. The one year traveling player who hops from team to team (even after winning a Championship!) are not going to care about UK or #9. They one care about them being #1 as an individual!
NIL and the transfer portal are quickly ending the One and Done era. Seasoned upperclassmen can now make as much money playing college ball as they would in the G league. Until this changes, high school seniors coming to Kentucky need to know that significant playing time will not come their way until their second or third year unless injuries decimate a team at a particular position. As a result, the cream of the crop of the McDonalds All Americans will go to Duke and UConn. Pope and Kentucky will continue to bring in seasoned talent at every position by virtue of NIL and the transfer portal which will make it harder for Pope to recruit at the high school level. Most of those high school kids still want to be One and Done. If you are wondering what will happen to program loyalty, just follow the money.
They’ll figure it out soon enough after they transfer out after year one. Or more likely the highschool cream will start going to places like BYU, and other mid majors where they can be the star. Not many Cooper Flags come around….
You’re exactly right, Bob! The SEC is a thug league and will continue to get more dangerous for civilized players to risk injury. Look at the picture of Aberdeen with his fist in the chest and his arm wrapped around with his hand locked onto the opponents arm. Basically 3 fouls in one big holding session. That’s a practice shot but it’s what the NBA produces and then got into college ball, especially the SEC.
Perry and Noah and a lot of other high profile KY HS BB players need to select specific teams to play for and go in groups of 2 or 3.
It’s unfortunate that UK (ie, AD & Admin) has waited so long to hire a real coach instead of wasting years with the NBA sponsor who did not care about UK.