Travis Perry Flashed in Overmatched Duel with Alabama

Alabama is a bad matchup for Kentucky at full strength. Preseason SEC Player of the Year Mark Sears and Labaron Philon can out-athlete whoever is guarding them. The Cats entered the matchup without their best perimeter defender, Lamont Butler, and despite his athletic shortcomings, Travis Perry performed admirably.

The former Kentucky Mr. Basketball from Eddyville logged a career-high 30 minutes against Alabama. Tasked to slow down Sears, he was able to keep the elusive point guard in front of him, limiting Sears to six points on 2-8 shooting in the first half, before the dam burst in the second period.

“I think their pace was really aggressive,” Perry said in the postgame locker room. “With the short lineup we had, that was tough for us. But I feel like we got away from us. Hats off to them. We gotta learn from it and get better.”

“I thought Travis competed hard. He’s probably our next best option at this point to just give us some options to have any type of play calling or diversity to what we do at all right now,” head coach Mark Pope said after the loss. “There weren’t a ton of options there. I thought he competed really hard.”

Perry was one of only three Wildcats who scored in double figures. He had 11 points but only knocked down one three-pointer. Despite the physicality, he did not shy away from taking the ball to the rim.

Travis Perry is starting to do some things. pic.twitter.com/KVVFOkMEzs

— KSR (@KSRonX) March 15, 2025

Turnovers plagued Kentucky. Alabama forced 16 and turned them into 29 points, the final margin of the worst loss of the season for the Wildcats. Perry only had two of those while running point. The extensive playing time he received down the stretch has him confident that he’s capable of contributing in the NCAA tournament.

“March is a great time of the year. At this point, you gotta step up and be ready to make plays,” Perry told reporters.

“I feel like we had glimpses of that tonight. Just being able to do it consistently, play hard, and execute our game plan will be important for us down the stretch.”

More Postgame Conversations from the Kentucky Locker Room

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