Is Travis Perry injured going into March Madness? Here’s the latest on the UK point guard
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Men’s NCAA Tournament preview: Kentucky vs. Troy
Click below to read more coverage from the Lexington Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com ahead of Kentucky’s men’s NCAA Tournament opener against Troy University in Milwaukee on Friday night.
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It looked like a triage at the Kentucky basketball watch party on Selection Sunday.
Jaxson Robinson, already ruled out for the season, had a brace on his surgically repaired shooting wrist. Kerr Kriisa, also ruled out for the season, was sitting right next to him, unable to play for the past three months due to foot surgery.
Lamont Butler, the on-court leader of the Wildcats, was less than 72 hours removed from suffering yet another injury to his left shoulder, on which he’s been wearing a bulky brace for weeks.
Otega Oweh and Collin Chandler were sporting stitches on their faces — Oweh still had a busted lip, Chandler a black eye — injuries sustained in last week’s SEC Tournament.
Trent Noah wasn’t even present. He had to watch from home because of an illness.
Travis Perry was there, though, all smiles and looking no worse for wear, but rumors abound this week that the UK freshman guard has been dealing with a hand injury that could hamper his ability to play in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
Perry was all smiles again in UK’s locker room at the Fiserv Forum on Thursday afternoon.
“Yeah, I’ve seen some of those,” Perry laughed when the rumors of a hand injury were mentioned. “No, it’s all good. We’ve got a great training staff that worked with me to get it right. You know, obviously throughout the season, there’s gonna be nicks and bruises in there, especially the SEC. But now it’s all good.”
Perry told the Herald-Leader that he did tweak his shooting hand/wrist area during the Cats’ loss to Alabama in the SEC Tournament last week, but he stretched it around to show it was feeling OK, and he didn’t have anything of a protective nature on the hand in the UK locker room.
When the Wildcats took the court for their open practice a few minutes later, he had some tape wrapped around his right wrist, which he said he would be putting on before leaving the locker room.
Noah, situated at a locker next to Perry, was also in good spirits before the practice and was moving normally when the team took the court after missing the selection show party with an illness.
Kentucky will play Troy in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 7:10 p.m. EDT Friday.
Perry, who entered the season considered to be, at best, the 11th man on this UK basketball roster, eventually turned into an integral part of the team. With Butler, Kriisa and Robinson in and out of the rotation due to injuries, Perry was thrust into a meaningful role more quickly than expected.
He made his first start as a Wildcat on Feb. 15 at Texas, where all three of those players were sidelined at the same time. He hit a couple of big 3-pointers four days before that to help Kentucky beat Tennessee in Rupp Arena. He’s made three starts since that trip to Texas, and — with Robinson and Kriisa unable to play in the NCAA Tournament — Perry will be needed to play some March Madness minutes as one of Butler’s backups.
He was eager to get on the court for his NCAA Tournament debut Friday night.
“Yeah, just a lot of excitement to get to go out there and compete in such a great tournament for such a great, great team with a great fan base that’s going to be here supporting us. You know, there’s a lot of excitement about it, and I just can’t wait to get it going.”
This story was originally published March 20, 2025 at 4:06 PM.
