‘You’ll never be able to replicate it.’ Noah, Perry share Kentucky state tourney memories
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A little more than a year ago, the annual Boys’ Basketball Sweet 16 state tournament at Rupp Arena was lit ablaze by two future Kentucky basketball players during the crowning moments of their prep basketball careers.
The title game of the 2024 Sweet 16 saw Travis Perry’s Lyon County top Trent Noah’s Harlan County in a championship game that pitted schools from opposite ends of the commonwealth against each other in a high school basketball showcase for the ages.
But things had to take a turn to provide the perfect parallel that now exists.
Noah played last year’s Sweet 16 — during which he scored 129 points across four games — as a South Carolina basketball signee. Just a couple months later, Noah was a Kentucky Wildcat, having backed out of that South Carolina pledge to join Mark Pope’s first UK team.
Perry — the all-time leading scorer in Kentucky boys’ high school basketball history with 5,481 career points — ended up being the only member of Kentucky’s six-player 2024 recruiting class, assembled by former UK coach John Calipari, to stick with the Cats despite the offseason coaching change from Calipari to Pope.
The result is that Noah and Perry are now preparing for an NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 game with their home state school. No. 3 seed Kentucky plays No. 2 seed Tennessee on Friday night in Indianapolis in UK’s first appearance in the regional semifinals since 2019.
That contest comes while the boys high school Sweet 16 is ongoing in Lexington after a weeklong delay due to NCAA Tournament games being held at Rupp.
But before Friday’s NCAA game, the two freshmen Cats spent time with the Herald-Leader reminiscing about their Sweet 16 high school tournament memories during UK’s open locker room Thursday.
“That was a great time in my life. I enjoyed that like no other,” Noah said. “It’s really special whenever you can go through it with the kids that you grew up with, that you go to school with, that you go to the same Walmart as them all your life.”
Trent Noah, Travis Perry share Sweet 16 high school memories
Noah is in the history books as one of the best high school players ever to come from the Eastern Kentucky mountains. Last year’s state tournament run with 13th Region champion Harlan County — the Black Bears were making their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2017 — solidified this.
Noah had 35 points in an opening-round win over 2023 state champion Warren Central, 48 points in an overtime quarterfinal win over Campbell County, 29 points in a semifinal win over Evangel Christian and 17 more points in the state championship game loss to Lyon County.
Noah pointed to the overtime win in the state quarterfinals against Campbell County as his favorite memory from last year’s Sweet 16. The Black Bears overcame a 16-point second-half deficit in that one, with Noah scoring 48 points in the win. That’s the fourth-most points ever scored in a Boys’ Sweet 16 game.
Noah also set a record during last year’s Sweet 16 by making 19 3-pointers, which broke the previous mark set by Mason County’s Chris Lofton.
“It’s kind of all a blur now,” Noah said.
Last year, Harlan County set a number of boys basketball firsts as a result of the Sweet 16 tournament run. It delivered the school’s first ever state tournament victory, as well as the first Sweet 16 win by any school in Harlan County since 1996 (Harlan over Fairdale).
The Black Bears’ run to the state championship game came in only the school’s second-ever Sweet 16 appearance.
“Doing it from a small school, small country type of feel, feels really cool,” Noah added. “We get to go in there and compete with the public and private schools from Louisville or Lexington and stuff like that. I think it was really special for us. ... Being able to do that for our community, for our county, was just really, really special.”
That small school, small county dynamic described by Noah is exactly what made Lyon County’s path to the Sweet 16 championship so special.
Led by Perry’s 27 points and five 3-pointers in the title game, the Lyons’ triumph over Harlan County gave Lyon County its first team state championship in any sport. Prior to last year’s Sweet 16, Lyon County’s enrollment was reported as just 293 students.
“To be able to win (at Rupp), that’s something that was way better than I could have ever expected or dreamed of,” said Perry, who was coached by his father, Ryan, during his high school career. “It was just a lot of fun.”
In many ways, Lyon County’s path to the 2024 Sweet 16 championship was an underdog story. Except for the talent on the court.
In addition to Perry — the top high school recruit from Kentucky in the 2024 class of prospects — the Lyons’ roster last season also included fellow seniors Jack Reddick and Brady Shoulders, who just finished their freshman college seasons at Florida Gulf Coast and Mercer, respectively.
Last year was Lyon County’s third straight trip to the Sweet 16 as 2nd Region champions. Before this run of success, Lyon County’s only other visit to the Sweet 16 came in 1951.
“That had always been our dream there, to make it to Rupp. ... Then senior year we were the top team in the state all year. It was a lot of pressure to make it back,” Perry said. “Then when we made it back, it was kind of a relief and a lot of fun to be able to be up there and compete. It’s a tournament unlike any other.”
Noah, Perry share advice on Sweet 16 state tournament
When asked what advice they would give to the players currently competing in the Sweet 16 state tournament, Noah and Perry struck the same sentiment.
Enjoy the ride.
“First and foremost, enjoy it,” Perry began. “It’s the best time of your life. You get to play with your best friends, play for people you care about and you love and you get to do it at the highest level in Kentucky.”
“I would really just say to take it all in,” Noah added. “Playing in the state tournament is an experience like no other. It’s just really hard to get there, first of all. You’ll never be able to replicate it. Whenever you’re older, you’ll get to look back at the pictures and stuff.”
Perry also shared some more specific advice for those who are lucky enough to rattle off three straight Sweet 16 wins to earn a spot in Saturday night’s championship game.
Take care of your body.
“It’s hard to play four games in four days. There’s a lot of ice baths. A lot of stuff going on that we needed to do to get ready,” Perry explained. “... The games were so intense. You’re going from playing on a high school court to a college court. So it makes it a lot harder for a full game, especially when you’re playing 32 minutes a game. ... I wasn’t tired at all in (the championship) game. But then after the game, I just crashed. During the day you’re so excited to play, you have no time to think about being tired. It’s pretty cool.”
This story was originally published March 27, 2025 at 3:00 PM.
