Trent Noah stayed ready before making a big impact in his SEC debut

Trent Noah hadn’t played a minute of action in SEC play until his number was called at Vanderbilt. With Andrew Carr in street clothes resting a back injury, Mark Pope turned to Noah for 12 reserve minutes in Kentucky‘s loss in Nashville, including meaningful playing time down the stretch in a tight game. Noah was on the court with under a minute to go.

Though he was in the game late, Noah did his best work before halftime. “A real burst,” Pope said of Noah’s four first-half rebounds, including three offensive boards, a putback, and a steal.

“I thought Trent Noah was great tonight,” said Pope. “I have a lot of confidence in him. He had a big impact on the game in a really positive way. He’ll continue to do that.”

In Pope’s interview with Tom Leach after the game, he added, “I thought Trent was really actually terrific. There was a ton of space on the floor, and he gave us a huge boost on the offensive end. I thought he was great keeping balls alive, I thought he was great with ball movement. I thought he brought us good energy. He made some freshman mistakes that are just freshman mistakes, but I thought he was terrific.”

Noah: “You gotta stay ready”

Noah went five games without seeing the court, a span of 25 days between game action before Pope turned to him early in Nashville. The freshman from Harlan, Kentucky, subbed in just shy of the second media timeout in the first half, then immediately grabbed an offensive rebound, his first of three in eight first-half minutes.

Noah said afterward that he made an instant impact because he stayed ready throughout his playing drought. “You’ve always got to stay ready,” Noah said. “I’ve just been trying to do what I can, work as hard as I can, and trust in God’s plan, and everything will pan out. We have so many good guys and so many good players on our team, so as long as we’re getting wins and playing together, I’m happy.”

Kentucky didn’t win on Saturday, but Noah still enjoyed his first SEC minutes and looks forward to what’s next for the Wildcats.

“It was awesome out there. Unfortunately, the game didn’t go our way in the end, but we got a lot of things we can improve on that are fixes, and that makes me excited and the team excited to where our ceiling can be.”

Hear from Trent Noah (and Otega Oweh) after the game

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