‘I was devastated,’ Mark Pope says of Travis Perry’s decision to transfer
During his first press conference of the offseason, Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope provided an honest, and raw, answer about the departure of freshman guard Travis Perry from the UK program.
Perry — a 6-foot-1 guard from Lyon County who won Kentucky Mr. Basketball honors in 2024 — opted to leave the Wildcats this offseason via the NCAA transfer portal after one season playing at his home state school.
Perry, who is the all-time leading scorer in Kentucky boys high school basketball history and helped lead Lyon County to the 2024 Sweet 16 state championship, was a late entry to the transfer portal. His decision came just hours before the deadline to do so on April 22.
During the 2024-25 season, Perry made four starts and played in 31 total games for the Cats.
“I was devastated when Travis left,” Pope said Tuesday afternoon inside Memorial Coliseum. “Mostly because I think he’s such a terrific young man. I think he’s a really, really special person. I think he’s got an old soul and he’s full of wisdom and he’s just everything that you want in a young man and a player.”
On May 4, Perry announced his commitment to SEC school Ole Miss.
“He’s a big-time basketball player. He’s a great talent,” Pope added about Perry, who averaged 2.7 points in 9.8 minutes per game for Kentucky last season, while shooting 31.3% from the field and 32.1% on 3-pointers.
“It was certainly devastating to me personally because I enjoy coaching him so much. I feel like he has a brilliant upside. I think he was on his way to becoming a legend here at Kentucky. That made me sad. But he’s going to find a path that works for him and it’s going to be positive. But that was a tough one for us.”
Next season, Perry will play for Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard. The Rebels were one of the recruiting finalists for Perry when he was coming out of high school, and Beard obviously still holds the former Kentucky guard in high esteem.
“Yeah, I love Travis,” Beard said during the NCAA Tournament when asked about Perry. “He’s one of those guys that’s addicted to basketball, loves it. Basketball guy. So I enjoyed recruiting him, getting a relationship with his family.
“In recruiting, you ‘don’t get’ so many more guys than you do get. But I was really happy for him that he found a great fit and played a great role as a freshman for Coach Pope’s team. And he’s a guy I always cheer for, have nothing but respect for. That dude’s a baller, man. He loves basketball.”
Perry was one of two departures for the Wildcats this offseason via the transfer portal. The other was fifth-year guard Kerr Kriisa, who will play his sixth and final college season at Cincinnati.
Kentucky has 13 projected scholarship players for next season, a group that includes four expected returnees.
Those players are freshmen guard Collin Chandler, freshman forward Trent Noah, sophomore center Brandon Garrison and junior guard Otega Oweh. Oweh has declared for the 2025 NBA draft while keeping open his option to return to Kentucky for his senior college season. The NBA Combine, featuring Oweh and other ex-Cats who are out of college eligibility, takes place this week in Chicago.
The nine newcomers to the Kentucky basketball team for the 2025-26 season include transfer portal adds Denzel Aberdeen (Florida), Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama), Jaland Lowe (Pittsburgh), Reece Potter (Miami-Ohio), Jayden Quaintance (Arizona State) and Kam Williams (Tulane). UK will also be welcoming first-year college players Andrija Jelavic (a 6-foot-11 Croatian big man), Jasper Johnson (a guard) and Malachi Moreno (a center).
Moreno is a former star at Great Crossing High School (Georgetown) who was the 2025 Kentucky Mr. Basketball. Moreno led Great Crossing to the Sweet 16 state title earlier this year.
Next season’s UK basketball roster will include four players from Kentucky who each played at different high schools in the commonwealth. They are Johnson (Woodford County), Moreno (Great Crossing), Noah (Harlan County) and Potter (Lexington Catholic).
This story was originally published May 13, 2025 at 1:35 PM.
