Kentucky freshman guard Travis Perry has entered the NCAA transfer portal, ending his one-season stint with the Wildcats. Perry put his name into the portal on April 22, 2025, just before the 11:59 p.m. ET deadline on the final day of the 30-day spring window.
Perry is a 6-foot-1 point guard from Lyon County, Kentucky. He is the state’s all-time leading high school scorer with 5,481 career points. He also holds Kentucky high school records for field goals made with 1,918, free throws made with 933, made three-pointers with 712, and steals with 650. As a senior at Lyon County, he was named Kentucky Mr. Basketball, Kentucky Sports Figure of the Year, and Sweet 16 Most Valuable Player after leading the Lyons to their first-ever state title.
At Kentucky, Perry appeared in 31 games with four starts as a freshman during the 2024-25 season. He averaged 2.7 points, 0.8 rebounds, and 0.6 assists per game while shooting 31.3% from the floor and 32.1% from three-point range. He saw increased playing time late in the season after injuries to guards Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robinson, and Kerr Kriisa. With Butler sidelined by a shoulder injury, Perry scored a season-high 12 points and had four steals in a loss at Alabama on Feb. 22, 2025. He added 11 points against Alabama in the SEC Tournament. Perry made at least one three-pointer in 13 of Kentucky’s final 21 games.
Perry was the only member of John Calipari’s 2024 recruiting class to remain committed to Kentucky after Mark Pope was hired as head coach. He was the first player on Pope’s roster at Kentucky. On March 28, 2025, following UK’s season-ending loss to Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, Perry told the Courier Journal he “certainly” planned to return for his sophomore season. He changed his mind before the portal deadline.
Perry was the second UK scholarship player to enter the portal this offseason, joining backup point guard Kerr Kriisa, who transferred to Cincinnati. Walk-ons Grant Darbyshire and Walker Horn also entered the portal. Kentucky added guards Jaland Lowe from Pittsburgh and Denzel Aberdeen from Florida in the portal, and signed four-star combo guard Jasper Johnson in the 2025 class, creating a logjam in the backcourt.
Head coach Mark Pope said he was “devastated” when Perry left. “I think he is such a special young man,” Pope said. “It was devastating to me, personally, because I enjoyed coaching him so much, and I think he has a brilliant upside. I think he was on his way to becoming a legend here at Kentucky.”
Teammate and fellow Kentucky native Trent Noah said the decision “definitely stung”. Noah added, “I did everything I could to keep him here. He was one of my good friends and he’s an excellent player. But at the end of the day, you gotta do what’s best for you, and that’s what he thought was best for him. Not looking forward to playing him, that’s for sure.” Noah said Perry told him he was debating the move in the weeks after the season ended.
Perry transferred to Ole Miss to play for head coach Chris Beard, who recruited him out of high school. Perry’s departure left Kentucky with 12 scholarship players for the 2025-26 season at the time.
