Nostalgia collides with competition for Travis Perry in La Familia practices

Imagine growing up during the peak of Kentucky basketball in the last decade-plus, your childhood aligning with Aaron Harrison’s game-winners, Willie Cauley-Stein’s dunks and Eric Bledsoe’s toughness.

And then you get (have?) to compete against them all in practice as a Kentucky Wildcat yourself.

That was the reality for Travis Perry, a diehard fan from Eddyville who watched every second of every game like the rest of us as a kid, only to find himself wearing blue and white as a player in college. The players he grew up rooting for suddenly became on-court competitors when La Familia came to town ahead of The Basketball Tournament and practiced with the current Kentucky team.

Perry’s idols became friendly rivals. And it was awesome.

“It’s been incredible, just getting to talk to my dad and my family about it, people back home,” the former Lyon County star told KSR. “As a kid, those are the guys that you grew up watching and dreaming of being those guys. Now you’re the guy that’s here playing and they come back and you get to compete against all of them, practice against them, just hang out with them. That’s pretty incredible.”

The freshman guard remembers their biggest moments in Lexington as Wildcats themselves, kings of the sport when he was a kid. Now they’re helping Perry work on his game before his career at Kentucky begins.

It’s a full-circle moment, one he’s grateful to experience during summer workouts a few short months away from his official debut.

“It’s hard to describe, really,” Perry added. “They were the biggest icons, the biggest figures in college basketball whenever I was a kid. Now they’re coming back and just hanging out with you, just doing whatever they can to get better and also help you get better. It’s incredible.”

Incredible, yes. Humbling? Yeah, that too.

Perry doesn’t remember a specific shot or bucket that stood out for him personally, but he does have a pretty vivid memory of Eric Bledsoe showing him what grown-man strength as a 12-year NBA vet looks like. He’ll admit he got outmatched on that one, but if it means learning from a player of Bledsoe’s caliber, he’ll happily take it.

“I would say definitely in the first practice we had with ’em, whenever we were going through some drills, getting to guard Eric (Bledsoe). Then also whenever we had the alumni scrimmage with ’em at Rupp, I remember I was on the left wing guarding Eric and he went to like a little spin fade and hit me right in the chest,” Perry told KSR. “I was just thinking, ‘I’m on an iso with Eric Bledsoe.’ It’s pretty incredible. Then also to be able to hit threes against those guys, it’s awesome.”

It was a pinch-me moment for the homegrown talent. If you had told him he’d be in this position as a kid, playing pick-up inside Rupp Arena against all-time Kentucky legends as a freshman Wildcat himself, he wouldn’t have believed you.

But here we are.

“At Rupp Arena, against the legends of Kentucky basketball, it’s pretty incredible,” Perry told KSR.

Amari Williams models game after Willie Cauley-Stein

It wasn’t just Travis Perry learning from Kentucky’s star alumni in town with La Familia for TBT. He may not have grown up around the program like Perry or Trent Noah, but Drexel transfer Amari Williams has watched Willie Cauley-Stein closely during their time together in Lexington.

Digging deeper on the former First Team All-American, Williams hopes to model his game after Cauley-Stein, recreating some of the shot-blocking and rim-running magic he found at Kentucky a decade ago.

“Cauley-Stein, just the way he blocks shots,” he said. “I think last game (for La Familia), he had like seven. So that’s something I want to do, you know, rebound, catch oops above the rim, and things like that, so that’s who I am trying to mold my game after this year.”

Big Blue Nation would certainly be happy with those results.