Trent Noah gives Kentucky a spark off the bench: "His energy never wavers"

Kentucky’s feel-good win over South Carolina had a cherry on top in the form of five straight points by Trent Noah in the closing minute. The freshman from Harlan, who originally signed with the Gamecocks, played 13 minutes in the 80-57 victory, totaling five points (2-5 FG, 1-3 3PT), five rebounds, and an assist, an impressive performance coming off the Ole Miss game, in which he failed to record a single stat in 13 minutes.

Noah’s minutes didn’t just come in garbage time; he checked in at the 5:42 mark of the first half and infused the Cats with some much-needed energy, pulling down four rebounds and dishing an assist to Andrew Carr for a three to put Kentucky up eight. Mark Pope praised the Mountain Mamba in his postgame press conference while also teasing the freshman for his response to South Carolina’s 1-3-1 zone.

“I thought Trent was really solid tonight. I thought he was really, really solid. His energy never wavers. And that’s a real gift as a coach trying to piece together a game, to know that you know exactly what you get you’re going to get when you put Trent on the floor, and that includes some young mistakes, and includes some places where he’s uncomfortable.

“You know, his first possession against the 1-3-1 [zone], he kind of froze up a little bit. That’s what young guys do, right? But his energy is always the same, and it’s always the same every day in practice, and his focus is always the same, and he’s been a real gift.”

A week ago, Noah didn’t play a single minute in Kentucky’s loss to Arkansas. After a lackluster showing in Oxford, it was good to see Noah rebound today in Rupp, a promising sign for the future.

“He’s going to be a terrific player,” Pope added during his postgame conversation with Tom Leach. “He adds so much to our team. I’m really proud of him, man. He’s a big difference maker for us and I was his contribution tonight was really important.”

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Lamont Paris on Noah: “No Hard Feelings”

As mentioned, Noah was set to play for Lamont Paris and the Gamecocks until Mark Pope took the job at Kentucky. Paris released Noah from his National Letter of Intent, which allowed Noah to join his home state squad. Paris took offense when a reporter asked if there were any hard feelings over Noah’s decision in the postgame press conference.

“Hard feelings? Would someone actually do that? You think someone would have hard feelings? This is 2025. I’ve done this a long time. There are no hard feelings. It’s life. Certainly, no hard feelings.”

Coincidentally, Paris also mentioned the moment in the second half when South Carolina switched to zone.

“I was really focused on our team and what we needed to do. These possessions all matter. Like, late in the game, we threw a zone out there, which can be a good tool for us and we’re coaching. Guys have got to get better. We’ve gotta play more games. I really was focused on what we were doing. Sorry to disappoint you in my answer but I really wasn’t focused centrally on Trent Noah.”