Mark Pope gave a surprise start to Trent Noah. Will it lead to bigger things?
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- UK basketball sophomore Trent Noah scored 11 points against North Carolina Central.
- Noah played a career high 26 minutes in the Wildcats’ win over the Eagles.
- Kentucky’s next game is a home contest against Indiana on Saturday night.
Kentucky basketball sophomore Trent Noah got a surprise start in UK’s 103-67 home clobbering of North Carolina Central on Tuesday night at Rupp Arena.
And Noah — maligned among some Kentucky basketball fans for his slow start to the season — delivered on the opportunity given to him by head coach Mark Pope.
The second-year Wildcat had 11 points (all in the first half), six rebounds, three assists and a steal in 26 minutes of action in Kentucky’s comfortable win over the Eagles, who entered the contest at No. 350 in the KenPom rankings.
Those 26 minutes were a career-best for Noah, who made 24 appearances off the bench for UK as a freshman last season.
“We have so many good players, (North Carolina Central) had to respect them and then it kind of got me open a little bit,” Noah said. “We were just playing off each other.”
There wasn’t much that Pope’s squad could do Tuesday to alleviate the growing concerns about the trajectory of the 2025-26 season. The Cats are still 0-4 against quality opponents. The visit of longtime rival Indiana on Saturday night, as well as a neutral-site contest against No. 22 St. John’s on Dec. 20 in Atlanta, will reveal more about this UK team’s bounce-back ability.
But the climb from rock bottom must start somewhere. And perhaps Noah is set to play a part in Kentucky’s recovery.
“I like Trent every night. Trent’s not a perfect player. There’s some things that are complicated for him, areas of the game where he struggles,” Pope said. “But he’s all-in. He’s fully invested. He’s going to give everything that he’s got every time on the floor, and he’s pretty effective.”
The Harlan County product started both of UK’s exhibition contests this season — showing particularly well in a win over preseason No. 1 Purdue — and the regular season opening win over Nicholls. But Noah suffered a left ankle injury during the first half of that Nicholls game, and the setback derailed the early part of his second season.
Noah missed Kentucky’s next two games against Valparaiso and Louisville before shifting to a bench role for the following six games. Aside from a 16-point, six-rebound outburst against an overmatched Tennessee Tech team, Noah’s play in those contests was unremarkable, leading some in the UK fanbase to question his role on the roster.
Pope addressed that commentary head-on Tuesday by giving Noah the start in place of sophomore Kam Williams, who didn’t check into the game until there was 12:35 left in the second half and the outcome was already clear.
“There’s nothing like playing in Rupp Arena, and getting a start in a regular season game is super awesome,” Noah said. “Super grateful for it. There’s nothing like BBN.”
Much was expected of Noah as one of four returnees from Pope’s first Kentucky team.
“He just is a vet that just knows exactly who he is... He just brings this calm to our team,” Pope said of Noah after the Blue-White Game in October.
In part due to his ankle injury, Noah hadn’t gotten the run that you’d expect of a player with that kind of preseason hype. Each of the 11 players in Pope’s rotation entered the North Carolina Central game averaging at least 15 minutes per contest. Before his 26 minutes of playing time Tuesday, Noah hadn’t played more than 22 minutes in a game this season.
“I thought he was good tonight,” Pope said, adding that Noah had UK’s best defensive play of the first half. “I thought he gave us good looks, and I thought he was aggressive.”
Noah was also billed as Kentucky’s best 3-point shooter during the offseason. He’s now 12-for-26 (46.2%) on the season from deep, as part of a Kentucky team that’s still shooting a suboptimal 32.9% on 3s. That mark ranks around 200th nationally, which is well behind the 37.5% (24th in the country) that Pope’s first UK team shot from 3-point range.
“Just try to shoot it with confidence every time. That’s what Coach says,” Noah said of his offensive approach. “It’s super easy to play that way and to play for him. It makes the shooter’s job way easier whenever you never really, rarely, can take a bad shot in his offense. He has so much confidence in me, and I appreciate it so much.”
Last year, Noah flipped late in his college recruitment from South Carolina to Kentucky after UK hired Pope. A four-star high school recruit, Noah tallied more than 3,700 points during a star prep career at Harlan County. Still, learning to operate within Pope’s “green-light offense” took time.
“Since the first day I stepped on campus and was playing for him, we have the ultimate green light,” Noah said. “But then there’s times you have to take the right ones. You have to take (shots) in the flow of the offense and stuff like that. Whenever you shoot it, you own it, and we live with the result, make or miss.”
Noah’s 3-point shooting is the kind of statistical outlier that could afford him more playing time, especially as the Cats look to correct their performance against high-major foes in a season that already appears to be on the brink.
“Trent, he’s a really important part of this team,” Pope said. “He’s got a chance to grow into a terrific player and a great leader. I’m proud of him. Just like all our guys, he’s trying to figure it out.”
