It’s official. Mark Pope’s Kentucky recruiting efforts have now done something that never would have happened under John Calipari: He’s welcomed home scoring wing Trent Noah following his decommitment from South Carolina. Where Calipari never even bothered to talk with the Harlan County star, who ranks fifth all-time in scoring within the state, Pope has gotten him to Lexington.
That puts Kentucky in a situation it could hardly have expected just two months ago before Calipari’s departure, which rocked college basketball, with a future in which it may well be led by not one, but two in-state stars. Along with Noah, the state’s top all-time scorer, Travis Perry, remained committed to UK even after Calipari’s move.
Speaking to KSR this week, Noah said he looked forward to chasing the school’s ninth banner with Perry.
“Travis, he’s an exceptional guy. He comes from an exceptional family,” Noah said. “We played together some this summer and we got to compete against each other in the state finals but the good thing is — we were talking — it’s just now that we’re on the side same, we’re working toward that same goal.
“We’re trying to hang number nine together. To finally be on the same team, it really is special. That’s one of the first people that I texted after and I’m just super excited to get to work with him.”
Trent Noah Led Magical State Tourney Run
Noah is not on Perry’s level as a recruit, but in-state hoops fans certainly were left with a distinct impression after he led Harlan County to the state final in his senior season. In that championship game, Perry scored 27 points to lead Lyon County—the smallest school in four decades to win a state title, to a 67-58 win.
Noah was worn out in that game, and scored 17 points. He’d scored 29 in the upset win over Evangel in the semis, and had tallied 48 in the game before that, earning Harlan County’s trip to the state Final Four.
To open the Sweet 16 tournament at Rupp Arena in March, Noah put up 35 points against Warren Central. Noah made 56% of his shots from the field las season, including 43% beyond the 3-point arc on 237 attempts. He also made 89% of his free-throw attempts
Noah was a four-star prospect at 24/7 Sports—ranked 105th nationally and 25th among all small forwards—out of Harlan County High School. Calipari never seriously recruited Noah, who picked South Carolina over the likes of Dayton, Butler, Western Kentucky, Stanford and Richmond.
Noah finished his prep career with 3,707 points, and averaged 29.9 points per game as a senior.
Kentucky Recruiting Still at Work Under Mark Pope
Pope and Kentucky recruiting remain active in filling out the roster, which stands at 10 players. The original class of six incoming players from the Class of 2024, which ranked as the No. 2 overall recruiting class in the nation, has been whittled down to one. That one is Perry. Three of the other five have committed to join Calipari at Arkansas.
With Perry in place, other roster adds under Pope are highlighted by BYU signee Collin Chandler and transfer portal adds Koby Brea from Dayton and Lamont Butler from San Diego State.
Five other transfers will join the mix, too: Andrew Carr (Wake Forest), Brandon Garrison (Oklahoma State), Kerr Kriisa (West Virginia), Otega Oweh (Oklahoma) and Amari Williams (Drexel).
UK is still in the mix for players like Jaxson Robinson of BYU and Chaz Lanier of North Florida.
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