As Brad Paisley’s voice reverberated inside a packed Rupp Arena this month, Trent Noah emerged from an upper-level seating entrance, sporting the same satisfied grin that was simultaneously projected onto the venue’s special glass playing surface.
Paisley’s cover of “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive” soon became background noise though, as the Big Blue Madness crowd roared.
“In the deep dark hills of Eastern Kentucky. That’s the place where I trace my bloodline.”
This year’s edition of Madness — the preseason UK basketball tipoff event long billed as a way for fans to become familiar with players on that season’s Kentucky team — was flipped on its head.
One year on from The Reed Sheppard Experience, UK basketball now has two talented in-state freshmen on its roster, players to whom even the most casual of Kentucky fans need no introduction.
The 6-foot-5 Noah, who scored 3,707 career points during a decorated prep career at Harlan County, is joined on head coach Mark Pope’s first Kentucky basketball roster by Travis Perry, a 6-1 guard who is the all-time leading scorer in Kentucky high school boys basketball history.
Noah and Perry’s final high school game came against each other. Perry’s Lyon County team won the Sweet 16 state title over Harlan County in Rupp Arena last March. At the time, the matchup was viewed as the result of two of Kentucky’s best prep players who guided their respective schools — one from Western Kentucky and one from the Eastern Kentucky mountains — to the precipice of glory.
Noah and Perry combined for 217 total points in eight total games during their respective Sweet 16 runs.
But after Pope was hired at UK in April and convinced Noah to decommit from South Carolina and join the Wildcats, that March 23 matchup took on more meaning.
Call it fate or call it Kentucky basketball karma, but Noah and Perry are now both in Lexington, and both are in a position to contribute instantly to a brand-new era of UK hoops.
“It’s really special to have them on the team and they’re going to make a huge impact on Kentucky basketball this year and certainly as we move forward with this program,” Pope said of the in-state Wildcats. “I’m grateful to have these two guys. I couldn’t have asked for better human beings or representatives from the state of Kentucky than these two kids.”
Something working in both of their favors is the construction of Pope’s first Kentucky team, a veteran-laden group that boasts nine transfers as well as fellow freshman Collin Chandler, a former standout recruit who took two years off from basketball to serve a mission trip.
That leaves Noah and Perry — after all of their remarkable high school accomplishments in the commonwealth — as the youngest players on the 2024-25 Kentucky team.
But, connect that youth to inability at your own peril. During offseason interviews, those in and around the Kentucky basketball program have made it clear that Noah and Perry are realistic depth pieces on a Kentucky team designed to score in waves.
Anyone doubting Pope’s confidence in either player — or in Noah or Perry’s ability to deliver — needed just one (unofficial) game to take note.
In last week’s exhibition rout of Kentucky Wesleyan, Perry had five points and three assists, while emerging as one of the team’s leading rebounders with five. Noah’s night turned memorable. He was the last available, scholarship player to enter the game for UK, but his late barrage of 3-pointers jolted the same Rupp Arena crowd that embraced his earlier Madness entrance.
“They’re a really important part of our team,” Pope said of both players in that postgame press conference. “We’re really blessed that we could have three freshmen that could play every minute of the game.”
It would be a genuine shock if either Noah or Perry rocketed to one-and-done status or NBA draft consideration this season, in the same way Sheppard did.
But given the playing style that Pope’s first Kentucky team will boast, everybody expects that, at some point this season, each player will get his turn in the spotlight.
TRAVIS PERRY DEVELOPS BEYOND A STANDOUT SCORER
Given how prominent his prep basketball career was at Lyon County — and the complete offseason roster turnover at Kentucky — Perry is one of the most known quantities on the UK team.
Playing for his father, Ryan, at Lyon County, Perry became a varsity starter in the seventh grade, started scoring at an impressive clip and never stopped. He poured in 5,381 career points in high school, and along the way sprung a surprise by committing to then-coach John Calipari and the Wildcats last November.
After the Calipari-to-Pope coaching change, Perry showed up in UK gear to Pope’s debut press conference at a raucous Rupp Arena. Eight days after that, Perry confirmed his commitment to the Cats.
“It’s been great. Coach Pope has a great system, has a great way of doing things. Very supportive,” Perry said. “(Pope) instills probably just as much confidence in me as my dad did when I was playing (at Lyon County). So that’s awesome.”
Perry’s prolific scoring ability and penchant for making deep shots is well known.
The early stages of his development at UK have come in other areas, such as learning how to play point guard under Pope’s direction.
“Getting to compete against (my teammates) and see what it really takes to play at the high level of college basketball has been important,” Perry said. “… Competing against the guys that have been here, have proven themselves in college basketball, and trying to see how that levels out.”
Before Calipari left for Arkansas, Perry was to be one of six incoming freshmen on another UK team that was projected to be talented, but young. Now, the majority of Kentucky’s roster is made up of seasoned college basketball vets, which has given Perry a guiding presence.
“It’s awesome to be able to learn from them. I think it makes the experience that much better,” Perry said. “With the pressure or expectations there may be, they know all about that, how to navigate that.”
Fifth-year guard Lamont Butler, who himself boasts past playing experience in a national title game, has noted Perry’s development.
“Everybody knows he’s a scorer, but his playmaking, his defense, his rebounding,” Butler said. “All of that helps him grow.”
As Perry continues to round out the necessary skills to play at the high-major level, it’s also important to remember his most proficient one.
Perry — who spent the summer and early fall working on his individual mechanics prior to taking a shot — made only one of four 3-pointers he attempted in last week’s exhibition win. But on a team that’s aiming to launch 35 3-pointers per game this season, expect Perry to let the ball fly anytime he gets the chance.
“I think Travis has never been fazed by anything in his life,” Pope said. “I think he’s like a 75-year-old soul in an 18-year-old body. He’s specially built that way.”
TRENT NOAH BRINGS ENERGY, EFFORT TO UK BASKETBALL
When speaking to reporters on Tuesday morning, fifth-year forward Andrew Carr offered one of the most distinct compliments ever given to a UK freshman.
“Trent is our best wedge guy,” Carr said, noting Noah’s ability in “screen-the-screener” offensive actions. “He goes every single time and does a really great job in practice, just jumping up the intensity and everything like that.”
This illustrates the versatility Noah brings to the table. Noah — who played guard in high school and is listed on the UK roster as a forward — went through an adjustment period, as all freshmen do, during Kentucky’s summer workouts.
He admits the game was moving fast for him then. Lots to learn. Lots to implement. Not a lot of time to think.
“I teased Trent, he didn’t make a shot the first six weeks,” Pope said. “I’m, like, ‘We recruited a shot-maker. Where’s that part?’”
Noah said he appreciated Pope and other members of Kentucky’s coaching staff pumping him full of confidence while he settled into the college game.
“College basketball is completely different than high school basketball, or AAU or anything like that,” Noah said. “The coaching staff, and my teammates, when things go wrong they’re always there to pick me up and build me up. That’s what I think makes us so special.”
By the time Kentucky’s preseason “Banner Camp” arrived, Noah was more assured of himself on the court.
And praise has followed.
“You see him on the floor making decisions that are exactly the way we teach,” Pope said. “Right now we teach a little bit different. We’re like, man, we talked about that, like, twice and you’re executing it already.”
Execution, like the four-minute span against Kentucky Wesleyan when Noah lit up the scoreboard with 12 points, all via 3s.
Any question asked of Pope about Noah or Perry seems to end in a similar way.
Pope discusses the basketball things — the ability to create shots and learn defensive assignments and wedge — then he will tie both players back to their birthplace.
It’s something that’s also front of mind for the players themselves.
“It means the world to both of us,” Noah said of playing at UK. “We talk about it all the time, just how this really is a dream. It’s a dream come true. And to be able to put on the Kentucky jersey, that’s just something that’s not taken lightly.”
“It’s super special to grow up here, to watch it for so long and then get to be a part of it,” Perry added. “It’s a feeling that’s hard to describe really.”
