Travis Perry confirms he is healthy ahead of first March Madness

Will the injury bug continue to bite the Kentucky Wildcats going into March Madness? They’re at full strength in Milwaukee — or the latest version of full strength, minus Jaxson Robinson and Kerr Kriisa.

Lamont Butler said his shoulder is ‘feeling better’ while Otega Oweh‘s lip is mostly healed up after getting it split open in the SEC Tournament, no setbacks on Andrew Carr‘s back, either. How about Travis Perry, though? There was some speculation on his shooting arm earlier in the week, something that could impact his availability or limit his on-court production this weekend in the NCAA Tournament — his first as a college basketball player.

Well, we got our first look at Perry in Kentucky’s open practice at Fiserv Forum on Thursday, and he was wearing a bandage on his right wrist. That’s the bad news. The good news, however, is that he shot, passed and dribbled without issue while also confirming with KSR he is in the clear ahead of the Wildcats’ matchup vs. Troy on Friday.

“We’re all good there,” Perry said. “I mean, there was a — you have nicks and bruises come up, especially in the SEC, pretty much every night. Just a little bit sore there for a few days, but we’re good now.”

Perry enters his first March Madness averaging 2.8 points on 32.1 percent shooting and 33.3 percent from three in 30 games, taking on an expanded role with Kriisa out for the year and Butler in and out of the lineup with ankle and shoulder injuries, limiting him to 24 games.

He may not be starting the way he did on four separate occasions this season with ‘LaMarch’ Butler returning to game action, but he’s grateful to experience this prestigious event for the first time with Kentucky across his chest as a player.

“It’s super crazy. I think about pretty much every year for the past 10 years, I’ve been sitting in school watching Kentucky playing in March Madness,” he told KSR. “That’s just kind of surreal to be in this moment. Having the opportunity to go out and play in it tomorrow is something really special. I’m super excited for it.”

Watching as a fan the last several years, he’s undoubtedly heard the outside noise with Kentucky failing to reach the second weekend since 2019. Does he feel that pressure, trading out life as a fan for life as a player now having to hit those shots to help the Wildcats advance?

“There’s definitely pressure on it, but a lot of it is just induced by ourselves, as well,” he said. “You’re here in March now, you want to go out and win every game. We’ve got some veteran March Madness guys — Lamont has talked to us a lot about the first weekend being the hardest weekend, no matter where you’re at. At San Diego State, that was his hardest weekend. Just being able to kind of realize that, that it’s like that for a lot of teams out there, that we’re not the only team feeling the pressure of the first weekend, is good for us.”

Being in BBN’s shoes, he wants to win for these fans and give them what they’ve been craving for a half-decade at this point.

“When you’ve got Big Blue Nation, you want to really do well and play well for them,” Perry told KSR. “For me especially, I want us to get out that first weekend because I’ve been watching a lot of those heartbreaking defeats. The pressure’s there, but I think we’re going to go out there and play excited, play motivated.”

We’ll see how he handles the pressure, but most importantly, we know Perry will be healthy and available doing it.