Travis Perry, Trent Noah bring '10,000 percent work ethic' to practice

Kentucky natives Travis Perry and Trent Noah know that the path to playing as freshmen will be tough. The Wildcats had to restock an entire roster under new head coach Mark Pope, which meant bringing in plenty of veterans to round out his debut squad. This has (understandably) bumped some of the younger guys down the depth chart.

Perry and Noah understand the situation. They came to Kentucky as talented local recruits but with expectations of spending multiple seasons in Lexington. That doesn’t mean they aren’t trying to earn some early playing time though. It’s been the opposite. Reed Sheppard, also a Bluegrass native, was in a similar situation this time last year before developing into a lottery pick.

Who’s to say it can’t happen with Perry and/or Noah? The blueprint is there — it just requires a lot of hard work. Through the first few months, they’ve passed that test.

“Both of them are great young men. And that probably sounds cliche but they work,” Kentucky assistant coach Jason Hart said on the Sources Say podcast. “They work, they work, they work, and they work good days, bad days. They have a mindset to try and get better and they do have to live up to the great Kentucky local players. The Reed Sheppards, the guys that came in before them. I think they understand that and that’s why they’re coming in 10,000 percent work ethic every day.“

The work ethic part doesn’t feel like hyperbole either. We heard all offseason just how impressive Perry was during summer workouts and practices. His shooting numbers quickly became the talk of the team. Like when he made 100 consecutive free throws in three straight days of practice or made 59 threes in a row from the corner.

“(Perry) had a great summer in shooting. His skill development, he shot the ball extremely well,” Hart added. “We’re just ready for that to carry over. Like every freshman, it’s a learning curve. You’ve got to learn and with that comes some patience and stuff but he’s doing really well and he’s a heck of a shooter, by the way.”

Hart has experienced Perry’s skills firsthand. The assistant coach actually pulled his hamstring in practice one day trying to defend Perry. Hart jokes that he had to put himself on the IR afterward.

“I had grabbed some gum — we have bubble gum on the sideline,” Hart said. “I put in two pieces and gave me a sugar rush and I hopped out there to play defense (on Perry), pulled my hamstring.”

Noah has taken his debut offseason seriously — without injuring any of his coaches — as well, openly embracing the pressure of playing for the home-state school. The best way to tackle that kind of pressure is to live in the gym. It’s the fastest path to finding the court and representing the team he grew up cheering for.

Perry and Noah appear to be taking that to heart. How soon will it translate to games once the season begins?

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