How Lamont Butler and Kerr Kriisa helped Travis Perry find himself as PG2

Travis Perry was drowning a bit in early minutes as a freshman, struggling to figure out his role and fit in limited opportunities. He combined for seven total points in his first nine games at Kentucky, defense a regular talking point as it appeared the game was moving a bit too quickly while the lid stayed on the basket on shot attempts, starting 2-12 overall and 1-7 from three.

Then he shaved his mustache and found his superpowers again.

Joking, obviously — although it’s a little suspicious he’s scored in every game since that New Year’s Eve slip-up. Perry drilled his first 3-pointer since November and four points overall in the Brown win, followed by threes in both SEC wins over Florida and at Mississippi State, plus a tough finish through contact at the rim in the loss at Georgia. He’s got 12 points on 4-6 shooting in that four-game stretch, plus four rebounds, one assist and one steal in 34 minutes, emerging as the team’s backup point guard behind Lamont Butler with Kerr Kriisa out with a broken foot.

Beyond the stats, he’s clearly growing more and more comfortable with every rep on both ends. There are two reasons for that, he says, and they are the two fifth-year guards who have put in work to show him the ropes.

For Butler, it’s been on-court help, Perry forced to go to war in daily practice battles against one of the best two-way point guards in college basketball. If he can do it against him, he can do it against anyone.

“Going up against Lamont every day has made all the difference in the world for me,” Perry said. “He’s the best defender I’ll face all year, so to go against him in practice every day, it makes the game feel a lot easier.”

Then there is Kriisa, who hasn’t played since Kentucky’s win in Seattle over Gonzaga. He’s been a non-factor on the court hobbling around in a boot — although there is something to be said about the energy he provides screaming from the bench. His greatest impact, Perry says — in his case, at least — is his leadership and guidance, taking the freshman guard under his wing as he takes over the backup point guard role he manned for nine games until the injury.

“Kerr, he’s a great dude on the court and off the court. In the time right now where he’s hurt, he’s been a great resource for me,” Perry said. “Just talking through all of the little things, kind of the mindset he had when he played the minutes I’m playing now, the mindset you have to have when you go in. One of the things he’s trying to get me to be big on is energy.

“You see the energy plays he has, that’s not really been my DNA in the past, but he’s working on it with me. There are many things he did great on the offensive side of the ball, especially on the defensive side of the ball that he’s really helped me with. He’s been a great resource.”

He’ll be the first one to tell you it was a struggle at first, but now, that patience and persistence has paid off. After getting his feet wet and underneath him a bit, he now looks the part and continues to impress in those crucial minutes with Butler catching his breath. As his confidence has grown, fans’ confidence watching him jog to the scorer’s table has grown, too.

You no longer pray he can hold his own, but rather expect him to come in and knock down a big shot or two.

“Definitely a lot,” Perry said of his confidence and individual growth. “It’s always a little bit of a struggle going into a different environment, no matter where it is. I think I’ve definitely made big strides, finding out what I need to do in the minutes I get when I go in, figure out how to make an impact and give Lamont a blow here or there. …  I definitely feel like I’m getting more comfortable in my role. … I think from the practices I’ve had, getting to go against Lamont every day, getting to learn from him and Kerr, I feel like I’m getting really comfortable, just knowing what I need to produce in my role.

“That’s something that’s really important. It’s been good, I feel like I’ve had some good tests so far — some good road tests, some good games at home to kind of get comfortable in the SEC.”

He plays with a freedom and aggression we didn’t see much of early. That’s been a big part of it, too.

“I think it kind of just — the mindset shifted. To go out there and play, play free and not really worry about anything, be aggressive,” he continued. “I think it kind of came just whenever I figured out my role and knowing what I needed to do, being consistent every night.”

How much of it has been just seeing the ball fall through the net? That’s certainly helped — but not everything. A healthy portion of that comfort has come off the game floor in the film room or, again, battling in practice.

“That’s definitely important for anybody, especially people that like to call themselves shooters. Seeing a shot fall is really important, so that was big,” Perry said. “But also just watching the tape and seeing the little things I was doing wrong early on that I’m kind of correcting now, getting so many more reps in practice to go guard Lamont or guard our scout team on the scout we’re doing.

“All of that combined kind of came together.”

I’m still convinced it’s the mustache, but we’ll take the production however we can get it from PG2.