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Mark Pope shares heartbroken reaction to departure of Travis Perry
By Paul Harvey
Published:
Travis Perry came to Mark Pope’s Kentucky program as one of the major prospects in the 2024 recruiting class. Unfortunately, he did not make a major impact as a freshman and opted to hit the portal and transfer to Ole Miss this offseason.
While Perry did not have a major role this past season, he was undoubtedly a potential building block for the future of the Wildcats. Pope addressed the loss of Perry at a Tuesday press conference and was willing to admit he was “devastated” that Perry departed the program.
“I was devastated when Travis left,” said Pope. “Mostly because I think he is such a special young man… 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.”
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Making the loss sting even further, Perry will be in the SEC next season to play for Chris Beard. He averaged just 9.7 minutes played as a true freshman with 2.7 points per game and a 32% clip from 3-point range.
Coming out of high school, the in-state prospect was a 4-star recruit, per the 247 Sports Composite. Perry checked in as a top-100 player (78th nationally) and was the No. 1 overall prospect out of Kentucky for the cycle.
Perry still earned a 4-star transfer rating from 247 Sport as one of the top combo guards available in the portal. Now, we’ll see if that leads to a breakout with Ole Miss.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
