UK basketball recruit Travis Perry is sticking with the Wildcats and new coach Mark Pope

Travis Perry will follow through on his plans to play college basketball at Kentucky.

On Monday night, Perry confirmed on social media that he will still be coming to Lexington this year to play at UK, despite the offseason coaching change that saw John Calipari resign and Mark Pope hired as Kentucky’s basketball coach.

“Can’t wait to wear the blue and white. Go Cats!” he posted.

Perry — a 6-foot-2 in-state guard from Lyon County High School in Western Kentucky — will likely be the only member of UK’s six-player 2024 recruiting class, assembled by Calipari, to remain with the Wildcats following the coaching change.

Perry, the all-time leading scorer in Kentucky high school boys basketball history, attended Pope’s formal introduction as UK basketball coach on April 14.

Both Perry and his father Ryan, who coached Perry at Lyon County, wore Kentucky gear to that event at Rupp Arena. During Pope’s first public remarks as UK coach, he called for Perry to stand up from his seat on the Rupp Arena floor.

Perry received a standing ovation from a capacity crowd of UK fans.

“Are you here? Stand up. What are you doing?” Pope bellowed to Perry while answering a question from the media about in-state recruiting. “There is a good chance he will not jump into the portal, guys.”

Just one month earlier at Rupp Arena, Perry led Lyon County to the school’s first KHSAA Sweet 16 state tournament championship. Perry had been a varsity starter for the Lyons since the seventh grade and scored 88 points across four Sweet 16 games this year in downtown Lexington.

Perry committed to the Wildcats while Calipari was still UK’s head coach in November. He picked UK from a final list of schools that also included Alabama, Cincinnati, Ole Miss and Western Kentucky. Perry signed a national letter of intent to play for the Wildcats last fall.

After Calipari, Kentucky’s head coach for 15 seasons, left earlier this month to become the head coach at Arkansas, UK’s 2024 recruiting class almost completely evaporated.

Aside from Perry, the other five UK recruits in the 2024 class all decommitted from the Wildcats: Guard Boogie Fland, small forwards Billy Richmond and Karter Knox and centers Somto Cyril and Jayden Quaintance all backed off their pledges to come to Lexington.

On Monday night, Knox committed to Arkansas, where he will play for both Calipari and former UK assistant and Louisville head coach Kenny Payne.

Perry is a four-star recruit who is ranked as the No. 81 overall player in the 2024 recruiting class by the 247Sports Composite. His decision to remain with UK isn’t a surprise.

For starters, there’s the relationship Perry holds with his home state school.

“Obviously being a Kentucky kid from Kentucky, that dream is always there,” Perry said during his college announcement in November, which took place in front of an audience at Lyon County and was shown live on the 247Sports YouTube page.

“But it was more than that. It was the opportunity to go in and have an impact and go in and help the great basketball state of Kentucky win. That’s something, I feel like Kentucky has the best fans in the world, so just being able to play in front of those fans and have the opportunity to keep doing that is something really special to me.”

More importantly, there’s the on-court fit for Perry within Pope’s five-out offense. Last season, BYU finished with the No. 14 adjusted offensive efficiency in the nation, per KenPom, and the Cougars averaged 81.4 points per game.

BYU attempted 32 3-pointers per game last season (the second-most in the country) and the Cougars made 11.1 3-pointers per contest (the third-most in the country).

A scorer and shooter of Perry’s caliber should thrive in this offensive system.

“Threes are worth more than 2s, so I think he’s got that philosophy,” Perry said on April 14. “... They definitely play a fun brand of basketball, a fun style of basketball. They play together, they play for each other and that’s something that you can kind of see by listening to him (Sunday). He really embodies the betterment of the team. obviously they shoot a lot of 3s, that’s something that’s really intriguing to me... Shoot a lot of 3s, make a lot of 3s and have a lot of fun doing it.”

As a college basketball prospect, questions remain regarding Perry’s athleticism and his ability to defend high-major players. But his ability to score and basketball feel are both undeniable.

Prior to reaffirming his commitment to Kentucky, Perry had several meetings (virtual and in person) with Pope. Additionally, Perry’s father and Lyon County coach, Ryan, dug deep into the tape of what Pope’s teams at BYU and Utah Valley looked like.

And Ryan liked what he saw.

“The more I watched his team play, it looked like our Lyon County High School team playing. It really did. The schematics, the pace, it really looked a lot the same,” Ryan Perry told the Herald-Leader. “Me and Travis had those conversations, and that’s really appealing because we’ve gotten really comfortable the last four or five years playing that way and that’s definitely enticing for sure.”

“I know some of the conversations Travis has had with Coach Pope have been along the lines of the pace, the freedoms (on offense) and things like that,” Ryan added. “Of course, Travis loves to hear that stuff, loves to score the basketball, but man, we’ve been impressed by everything from Coach Pope. So far, it’s been pretty awesome.”

Perry is now the third confirmed piece of Pope’s first Kentucky basketball roster for the 2024-25 season. Last week, former BYU signee Collin Chandler, a combo guard, announced he would be following Pope to Lexington.

Chandler was a four-star recruit in the 2022 recruiting class and is finishing a two-year mission trip. When he committed to BYU and Pope in November 2021, he became the highest-ranked BYU recruit in nearly a decade.

UK officially announced the addition of Chandler on Monday afternoon.

On Sunday afternoon, former Drexel big man Amari Williams committed to Pope and the Wildcats out of the NCAA transfer portal.

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