The two best high school players in the Commonwealth in 2024 were freshmen at Kentucky last season.
Travis Perry was Mr. Basketball and Sweet 16 MVP in leading Lyon County to the state championship.
Trent Noah was next best, both individually and team-wise, as he lead Harlan County to the Sweet 16 runner-up finish, falling to Lyon County, 67-58.
Neither made a huge impact last year. Perry played in 31 games with four starts as he filled in for injured Lamont Butler. He averaged nine minutes and scored 2.7 points per outing. Noah played in 24 games with zero starts, averring 11 minutes and the same 2.7 points.
After the season, Perry opted to transfer to Ole Miss, one of the school’s that heavily recruited him in high school.
Noah decided to stay, saying the thought of leaving UK never entered his mind.
“No,” Noah said emphatically. “This is the greatest place on earth. This is the state that I’m from and the basketball program that I grew up loving.”
One possible difference is that Perry was recruited by former coach John Calipari for two years and re-recruited by Mark Pope when he was hired in April 2024. Noah never got a sniff from Calipari and committed to South Carolina. When Pope was hired, Noah backed out and signed with Kentucky as one of the final roster spots.
“The biggest thing is just being here in the state of Kentucky playing for Kentucky because I would have never imagined I would have had the opportunity to put on to put on the jersey,” Noah said. “It’s still surreal to me that I get to wake up and put on Kentucky jersey. I’ve been here over 365 days and it still feels like the very first time I put it on.
“It’s definitely, special,” Noah said. “It’s like magic.”
While Noah never considered a transfer, he respects Perry’s decision.
“It definitely stung,” Noah said. “I did everything I could to keep him here.”
The two in-state rookies were roommates at the lodge last season.
“We’re both freshmen and we lean on each other for little things so we definitely talked,” Noah said. “I knew he was considering it and he let the whole team know before it went public, just keeping us in the loop so we didn’t have to find out on social media.
“That’s just how it goes in this day and age of college basketball,” Noah said. “You just try to put yourself in the best position and he thought Ole Miss was the best position. He’s one of my one good friends and an excellent player, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to do what’s best for you and that’s what he thought was best for him.”
“It’s always sad losing a brother, not losing, but not being with them every day. That’s really sad because we are so close,” said sophomore Collin Chandler. “I think he felt that’s what he had to do for his life and we have to respect that.”
Dates are not set, but Perry and Ole Miss will travel to Lexington for SEC play this winter.
“I love him and I wish him wish him the best,” Noah said. “But I’m not looking forward to playing him, that’s for sure.”
“It’s just going to be really sad,” Chandler added, “when we have to beat up on him when we play him this year.”
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
