‘He deserves it.’ Trent Noah brings scoring, size to UK after star high school career.

cameron drummond

Tue, May 28, 2024, 12:39 p.m.·6 min read

Mark Pope’s first Kentucky basketball team is full of new additions.

Currently, 11 scholarship players have signed up to play for Pope and the Wildcats during the 2024-25 season. Each of them is new to UK, with eight arriving via the NCAA transfer portal and three as traditional first-year freshmen.

But, Kentucky fans can find familiarity in two of the college basketball newcomers.

Incoming guard Travis Perry is a Kentucky high school basketball legend: He’s the all-time leading scorer in boys high school basketball history in the commonwealth (5,481 points) and is fresh off a Sweet 16 state tournament triumph with tiny Lyon County High School, located in the western Kentucky city of Eddyville.

Perry was recruited to Kentucky by former coach John Calipari and Perry committed to the Wildcats last November. His decision to stick with UK despite the Calipari-to-Pope coaching change makes him one of the few connective pieces between two distinct eras of UK basketball.

But joining Perry in the 2024 Kentucky basketball recruiting class is another former in-state basketball star, and one who has fast captured the imagination of the UK fan base.

Former Harlan County standout Trent Noah matched — and often exceeded — Perry during this past spring’s Sweet 16 state tournament. Noah’s high-scoring exploits over the course of four games at Rupp Arena with the Black Bears will go down as storybook stuff:

▪ Noah scored 129 combined points across four games (wins over defending state champion Warren Central, Campbell County and Evangel Christian, and a state title game defeat to Perry’s Lyon County team).

▪ The 48 points Noah scored in an overtime, quarterfinal win over Campbell County represent the fourth-most points ever scored by one player in a boys Sweet 16 game.

▪ Noah made 19 3-pointers during the state tournament, which set a Sweet 16 record.

▪ Noah finished his high school career with 3,707 points scored, which is unofficially the fifth-most all-time.

“That is stuff I’ve seen from him for a while, and people around here in this community have seen from Trent,” Harlan County head coach Kyle Jones told the Herald-Leader.

The evidence backs this up.

As a sophomore in January 2022, Noah scored 66 points against Cordia on an absurdly efficient 25-for-33 shooting performance, which saw Noah make 22 of his 26 2-point shot attempts.

In December 2023, Noah piled 54 points on Martin County in a win as part of the WYMT Mountain Classic. Noah scored 38 points the next day in a win over Perry County Central in the same event.

“It wasn’t surprising, obviously it came at a great time and we needed every basket, but we had seen that kind of effort out of Trent before,” Jones said of Noah’s Sweet 16 scoring explosion. “It was just great for him to be able to showcase that on a bigger stage like the Sweet 16, and the whole state was able to see really what kind of talent he is.”

Harlan County’s Trent Noah finished his high school career with 3,707 points, which is unofficially the fifth-most all-time in Kentucky boys basketball history.

This run also included Harlan County’s first ever win at the state tournament and its first appearance in the state championship game.

Not a bad legacy to leave behind for Noah, who became a starter for the Black Bears as an eighth grader.

That week in Rupp Arena also went a long way toward changing Noah’s college plans.

He committed to South Carolina for college basketball in October, but asked out of his national letter of intent with the Gamecocks in early May, after Calipari left for Arkansas and Pope was named Kentucky’s next coach.

Just days later, Noah committed to the Wildcats.

In addition to the feel-good vibes that come with keeping a talented in-state prospect home — Noah is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as a four-star recruit and the No. 103 overall player in the 2024 recruiting class — there’s plenty to like about what the 6-foot-6, 200-pound Noah brings to the court.

“He’s naturally got great size for a guard,” Jones said. “... His overall basketball IQ is off the charts. He’s a lethal shooter. He’s an elite shooter. I think the fans of Kentucky will really love him because he’s going to be able to stretch the floor, and he’s also going to be able to make plays for others because he’s a very underrated playmaker and passer.”

In his first public comments about Noah, Pope agreed.

“Trent Noah is one of the elite shooters in this class,” Pope said in a UK news release announcing Noah’s addition. “He is a tough, hard-nosed player with a special physicality. As an eastern Kentucky native, Trent will bring a grit, toughness and determination to the program that is representative of this state. We’re looking forward to Trent joining this talented group.”

It’s not imagination. @trentnoah2_ pic.twitter.com/wQNiqI3ctW
— caleb (@calebshotthat) May 25, 2024

Trent Noah will have time to learn with Kentucky basketball

Pope’s first Kentucky basketball squad will differ in a variety of ways from the teams Calipari trotted out over the last 15 seasons.

Perhaps the biggest change?

A reliance on older, experienced college basketball players rather than freshmen.

Kentucky’s 2023-24 team (even by Calipari standards) represented a major reliance on first-year players: Last season, scholarship freshmen accounted for 72.4% of Kentucky’s assists, 64.5% of Kentucky’s made 3-pointers, 58.4% of Kentucky’s points and 57.2% of Kentucky’s minutes played.

UK’s 2024-25 team under Pope will, conversely, probably feature an extreme reliance on veteran college players. Kentucky’s eight transfer portal pickups have a combined 749 games of college basketball experience, 7,065 career points scored and 869 total 3-pointers made.

These additions also include a bevy of highly rated defensive players, with four new Wildcats (guard Lamont Butler, center Brandon Garrison, guard Otega Oweh and forward Amari Williams) ranked as top-25 defensive players in the portal by college basketball statistician Evan Miyakawa.

Eventually, water will find its level as Pope determines his ideal ratio of freshman recruits to transfer additions.

But for now, this means Noah won’t be expected to produce right away with the Wildcats. He can go at his own pace — study and learn the game at the next level — and bide his time until his number is called.

“He has worked so hard,” Jones, Noah’s high school coach, said. “I’ve always said that whatever Trent got, he deserves because he’s put in the time and the work that it takes to receive an offer like he did from the University of Kentucky.

“He’s spent countless hours in the gym. I know people say that about every kid that’s a pretty good basketball player, but I’ve been a witness the last few years just to the time and dedication he’s put in. ... He’s just put the time in. He deserves it.”