Trent Noah: "Being a Kentucky kid, it was just a no-brainer decision for me."

There wasn’t much for Trent Noah to think about once Mark Pope’s name popped up on his phone. The Harlan County star was granted his release from South Carolina on Tuesday, and a day later, he was officially a Kentucky Wildcat — signed, sealed and delivered.

Growing up bleeding blue, all it took was that scholarship offer to come through. He said he would be “pursuing basketball opportunities closer to home” and there is nowhere that feels more like home than Lexington as a lifelong member of Big Blue Nation.

“I mean, it’s Kentucky basketball. What can you say? I mean, growing up from Kentucky and being a Kentucky kid, that’s just something that you always dream of,” Noah told KSR on Thursday. “Whenever the opportunity came about, I mean, there was just no way in the world that I could even think about passing it up. So just the honor for my name to even be mentioned with Kentucky basketball and the pride that comes with Kentucky basketball, being a Kentucky kid, it was just a no-brainer decision for me.”

It was complicated regarding the logistics and how things unfolded, some personal circumstances changing beyond John Calipari’s departure and Pope’s move to Kentucky. There were no prior conversations leading up to his release from South Carolina, Noah admitting he had to take a leap of faith when becoming a free agent with no landing spot secured in advance.

He’s just grateful the interest was mutual and things worked out the way he hoped.

“There were a lot of factors that went into it. South Carolina handled it very well whenever I got my NLI release,” Noah said. “It was just a lot of things that went into it and it’s just crazy how it all works out. I just kind of took a leap and took a chance and God ended me up at Kentucky and I just couldn’t be more grateful for it.”

The top-five scorer in KHSAA history woke up and walked into school with a pep in his step on Thursday morning. He knew his entire life had changed forever for the better, a new level of appreciation for the Kentucky sweatshirt he pulled out of his closet and threw on as a Wildcat.

Noah knows what it means to wear blue and white and he’s excited to represent the program well, certainly coming from an area of the state as passionate about Kentucky basketball as any.

“Just waking up this morning and putting on a UK sweatshirt, it was really just a special moment knowing that is where I’m gonna be,” he said. “Walking into school and just seeing everybody in Kentucky blue with their gear on, it really is just special. It’s kind of hard to even put into words. There’s something special about Eastern Kentucky and about Harlan County that’ll definitely be carried to Kentucky basketball already more than what it is.”