Travis Perry set for a ‘major impact role’ on his second college basketball team
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Travis Perry entered the transfer portal and committed to Ole Miss for 2025–26.
- Ole Miss projects Perry for a major-impact role and a much higher 3-point volume.
- Coaches and teammates cite elite shooting and work ethic, plus passing and defense.
There will be five players on the Kentucky men’s basketball roster with hometown designations from inside the commonwealth this season.
Travis Perry won’t be one of them.
Kentucky’s all-time high school points leader was a freshman at UK this time last year. He wasn’t expected to play a ton in his first season with the Wildcats, but he ended up being thrust into meaningful action — even starting some high-profile games — as a result of injuries elsewhere in the backcourt.
Perry was lauded for his grit and do-whatever-is-asked attitude by UK coach Mark Pope and his veteran teammates, but the freshman — listed at 6-foot-1 and 188 pounds last season — often appeared physically overmatched in the rough-and-tumble SEC.
Still, his first season at UK was widely viewed as a positive building block for what was expected to be a long college career in Lexington, and — in the Wildcats’ locker room after the NCAA Tournament loss to Tennessee — he was among the most adamant about returning to Kentucky for the 2025-26 season.
But as Pope completed his new roster through the transfer portal — and it became clear that UK’s backcourt would be loaded this season — Perry unexpectedly jumped in the portal himself.
It didn’t take long for Chris Beard to scoop him up on behalf of the Ole Miss Rebels.
Beard, who is entering his third year at the school and led Ole Miss to just its second Sweet 16 appearance ever last season, noted at SEC Media Days on Tuesday that Perry was one of the first players he started recruiting as the Rebels’ head coach.
He ran through Perry’s high school accolades, which included leading Lyon County to its first-ever state championship as a senior, when he earned Kentucky Mr. Basketball honors, and recalled the “great respect” he had for Perry and his family stemming from that recruitment.
Beard also pointed out that he saw Perry in person on the court last season, with the Eddyville native playing — at the time — a career-high 14 minutes and hitting his only 3-point attempt in UK’s loss to the Rebels in Oxford.
“Obviously, I got to coach against Travis last year in the SEC and thought he had a good year,” Beard said. “I think, a lot of times, people associate a good year as a freshman in college basketball as the special unicorn, kind of one-and-done guy.”
But Beard saw enough from Perry last season — and knew enough about him from their recruiting days together — that he wanted to bring him into his program at Ole Miss.
It sounds like he’s in for a meaningful role as a sophomore, even bigger than the one — an average of 9.7 minutes over 31 appearances — he played at Kentucky last season.
Chris Dortch, the editor of the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, told the Herald-Leader that — after speaking with Ole Miss coaches over the summer — he expects Perry to shoot at least 165 3-pointers this season. “At least,” Dortch added for emphasis.
For context, Koby Brea (with 214 attempts) was the only Kentucky player who shot more 3-pointers than that last season. Jaxson Robinson (165) was the only other Cat with more than 100 attempts.
Perry shot 56 3-pointers as a freshman, hitting 32.1% from deep but not getting much of an opportunity to put up those shots consistently and settle into a rhythm. He was 184-for-441 (41.7%) on 3-pointers during his senior year of high school and an even better 44.9% the season before that.
Getting a chance to put up three times the number of shots at Ole Miss that he did at Kentucky — if Dortch’s prediction pans out — should allow him a better opportunity to show off the skill set that his UK teammates raved about this time last year.
His new teammates quickly saw that side of him, too.
At the mere mention of Perry’s name, Ilias Kamardine’s eyes widened.
Kamardine is 22 years old and entering his first season in college basketball. The 6-5 guard from France has played professionally in that country for the past few years and has been classified as a senior by the NCAA due to that experience.
His introduction to Perry was fitting.
“The first time I saw him, it was in the gym and he was just shooting,” Kamardine said. “And he don’t miss. And that’s crazy. He’s really, really a great shooter.”
Has the Ole Miss newcomer with the pro background ever seen a shooter like Perry?
“Like him?” he said. “No. That’s the first time in my life.”
Kamardine also predicted that Perry would have “an important role” on an Ole Miss team that has been picked to finish eighth in the still-stacked SEC — the same spot Kentucky ended up in last year’s preseason predictions — and is once again expected to make the NCAA Tournament field.
AJ Storr, who played at Kansas last season and averaged 16.8 points per game at Wisconsin the year before that, was one of the SEC’s highest-profile transfer additions this offseason. He’s been impressed with Perry during their short time together, too.
“He’s an elite worker. He lives in the gym,” Storr said. “He probably gets about, I don’t know, 1,000 shots up a day. Really great shooter, obviously. People know him for that, but he also can do other things, too. He’s a great passer. He’s good on the defensive side, as well.”
Everyone knows Perry can shoot. Doing those other things is what will get and keep him on the court for the Rebels this season. By all accounts, he’ll be given every opportunity to do just that, and — if Ole Miss is going to build on its breakthrough season —it’ll need Perry to come through.
“Travis is doing well,” Beard said. “I’m on the record, and I’ll never get tired of saying it: In my personal opinion — I can only speak for myself — Travis is more than a shooter. A shooter does not define what he can do on the court today and certainly what he will be able to do as he continues to grow as a player. He’s still a young sophomore in our league. But we have a major impact role for Travis. We need him to have the best year he’s ever had playing basketball for our team to do what we all would like to do in Oxford.”
This story was originally published October 14, 2025 at 3:56 PM.
