Basketball recruit from Kentucky reacts to South Carolina offer

South Carolina basketball coach Lamont Paris and his staff, like college coaches across the country, have been working the grassroots circuit this month evaluating players and making offers based on what they’ve seen in person.

On Sunday, Trent Noah of Harlan, Kentucky revealed he had picked up an offer from Paris.

The 6-foot-7 Noah said Paris and his staff watched him throughout the month as he played with the Midwest Basketball Club, and his performance led to getting the phone call and offer from Paris.

“We were both really excited to talk to each other,” Noah said. “He really likes my competitiveness and doing whatever it takes to help the team win. Obviously, everybody talks about my shooting ability, and my ability to guard the ball is a strong factor, and my basketball IQ.”

This is just the first step for Paris in building a relationship with Noah. The plan is for him to take an official visit this fall for a football weekend, but no date has been firmed up.

“It’s cool getting to know Coach Paris,” Noah said. “He’s from Ohio and he coached at Wisconsin and on that staff. He had really good teams. It’s exciting how they play and getting to watch them and how they do their stuff. Hopefully I’ll get down to South Carolina sooner than later.”

Noah has at least 25 college offers, according to his Twitter social media timeline.

Noah said he has agreed to visits this August and September to Seton Hall, Western Kentucky, Butler, Saint Louis and Stanford. With the offer from the Gamecocks now on the books, he plans to give them a serious look as well.

“I feel like they are right there with anybody,” Noah said. “My recruitment is still 100 percent open. I feel like they’ve just come in and they are right there.”

Noah averaged 27 points and 12 rebounds per game in high school last season.