Trent Noah (Vicky Graff Photo)
Trent Noah’s freshman season at Kentucky included some terrific moments in big games as well as games where he barely played or maybe didn’t even get off the bench.
That experience and lessons learned on and off the court are things Noah is trying to share with Jasper Johnson, Malachi Moreno and Braydon Hawthorne, freshmen on coach Mark Pope’s team this season.
“At the at the end of the day, you just gotta stay level headed,” Noah said. Some nights will be great. Some you won’t check in (the game). You just gotta trust the coaches and you got trust in God’s plan. Because at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about.”
Noah understands that accepting that is easier said than done because every player wants to play. He did and he knows UK’s freshmen this season will want to play also.
“We have so many guys. That was the beauty of our team last year. We had, I mean, 12, 13, 14 guys that that could contribute,” Noah said. “I just do my best to do whatever I can, whether it’s on the bench, cheering them on, trying to see something, tell them that I see something out there that maybe should be a suggestion, or something like that.
“There’s ways you can impact, encourage them (teammates), building them up, giving them confidence, stuff like that. There’s always little things you can do, like maybe scout team at practice pushing them (starters). Do that and you can ultimately impact winning.”
6 Responses
He’s a gym.
Gem
That makes him a Gum Gem 👍
Ooops. typo…
That makes him a GYM GEM.
This will be Trent's year to step up and be a leader of this team. There are still questions about the availability of Quaintance and Jelavic, but Noah can contribute at the 2 and 3 spots in a big way if Dioubate has to play the 4 spot some. Too bad we can't just fast forward through the football season and jump into basketball! Go CATS!!!!
Trent Noah is the type of kids I would want if I was the coach of Kentucky. He knows his role and he accepts it. Some kids feel entitled because they were all Americans in high school. There is a big difference between the SEC and any type of high school basketball. These freshman need to earn it. If they want to play you have to earn your playing time in practice. You have to earn your playing time in the weight room. You have to earn your playing time being detail oriented. Noah is a craftsman. He will improve more and more every year. I just hope he keeps this same attitude all season because his basketball will be in his junior and senior season. He's almost ready to have big role. I think he's right on the edge of a major role. This year probably 5-9 minutes a game. He will get his time to shine. He can also be a great shooter off the bench this year. If he can shoot above 40% he will be hard to keep off of the floor. I also believe Pope will play who's ready. No guarantees just work hard. We will be a 12-13 deep team this year. I don't know if anyone will redshirt. I would redshirt one or two guys on this team. If a injury occurs they can always take the redshirt off. I wouldn't waste a year for anyone if you don't have too. I think Hawthorne accepted that could happen when he came here. The way Pope is gushing over Hawthorne he could be in the rotation this year. Hawthorne was ranked the 35th best recruit by rivals. I think Jasper Johnson was #23 and Moreno was #27. So what's the difference between 12 spots in high school rankings? Way less than you could imagine. Hawthorne could be the best freshman on the team by the time October gets here. So far I've also heard Moreno is much better than anticipated. He's hanging in there with BG. Potter is also shooting the ball very well. I can see him being a 41% 3 point shooter this year. I could also see him receiving a possible redshirt. I all depends on JQ. If he's ready for the start of the season I think we redshirt 2. If he's not going to be ready until right before conference play like I believe will happen he could redshirt nobody or possibly one guy. You can count on a injury or 2 as well. So I do believe everyone could get some playing time this year. At this point it's up in the air.