Trent Noah’s long-awaited Kentucky comeback has not gone according to plan, but the junior forward is making progress and believes he will soon be back on the court without limitations.
After deciding to return to Lexington for his third season, Noah entered the summer determined to make a bigger impact. The 6-foot-6 Harlan native had averaged 10.6 minutes per game while shooting 35.5% from the field as a sophomore, but early summer workouts provided plenty of reason for optimism.
Mark Pope even called Noah Kentucky’s “best player” during the first month of summer practice, saying he was leading the team in points per possession “by a long shot.”
Then injuries interrupted that momentum.
Noah suffered a hamstring issue that forced him to miss the remainder of the summer. After returning for the fall semester and getting back onto the practice floor, he suffered another hamstring injury.
The setbacks have kept him away from the court during an important stretch of Kentucky’s preseason, but Noah provided an encouraging update when discussing his recovery.
“I’m feeling really good. I’m super excited to be back,” Noah said.
Importantly, Noah explained that the two hamstring problems were separate injuries rather than the same issue continually being aggravated.
“In the summer, unfortunately, I had two separate hamstring issues,” he said. “It wasn’t like the same thing was being re-aggravated, which is good, but, I mean, it’s not the summer and fall that I wanted.”
Kentucky announced at Media Day that Noah was hopeful of returning within a couple of weeks.
For Noah, the goal is not simply to get back onto the floor. He wants to make sure the injury problems are completely behind him.
He credited Kentucky’s strength and conditioning and training staff, particularly Brandon Wells, for helping him through the recovery process.
“I’m excited for his timeline for me and what we’ve done working together,” Noah said. “I feel like I’m progressing well and I’m gonna be back in the next couple of weeks with no limitations and should never have to worry about it again.”
The time away has obviously been frustrating. Noah admitted that being unable to play can affect you mentally, especially when basketball is something that brings him so much joy.
But he has also tried to turn the difficult period into an opportunity to grow.
While watching from the sideline, Noah has remained involved with practices by helping with plays, going through reads, communicating with teammates and developing his voice as a leader.
“I feel like if you stay healthy for so long, you might start taking days and weeks for granted,” Noah said. “But in the summer, whenever I got to be back for a week and a half, two weeks, I was having so much fun and so much joy on the floor because I’ve been sitting and watching.”
That perspective could ultimately help Noah when he returns.
Rather than allowing the injuries to derail his season, he has continued preparing himself to contribute to a Kentucky team that is trying to take another step under Mark Pope.
And Noah still has plenty of individual motivation.
He could have entered the transfer portal after a limited sophomore season, but instead chose to remain at his home-state school and pursue the breakthrough he believes is still possible.
Now, he is eager to show Kentucky fans what they haven’t seen yet.
“I’m excited. I’m so eager and hungry to get back on the floor,” Noah said. “I think that’s the reason why I’m still here, because I think that there’s so much stuff that hasn’t been put out on the floor—myself and as a team.”
For Noah, the mission is straightforward: get healthy, return to the court and help Kentucky advance deeper into the season.
“I’m super excited to kind of finally break through as a team and keep advancing farther and farther, and then, individually, to just kind of do what I know I’m capable of.”
The injuries have delayed the start of Noah’s third-year opportunity, but his latest comments make one thing clear: he hasn’t lost sight of what brought him back to Lexington in the first place.
Now, he just needs to get back on the floor and finish what he started.
