Leading scorer in Kentucky boys high school basketball history set to make college choice
The all-time leading scorer in Kentucky boys high school basketball history is set to make his college commitment.
On Sunday afternoon, class of 2024 guard Travis Perry — a prep basketball star out of Lyon County High School in Eddyville — will make his college choice from a group of finalists that includes Alabama, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Western Kentucky.
Ranked by the Recruiting Services Consensus Index (RSCI) — which combines the rankings from the nation’s top recruiting services into one single metric — as the No. 81 player in the 2024 recruiting class, Perry has long been the talk of the commonwealth thanks to his high-scoring high school basketball exploits.
A varsity starter for Lyon County since he was a seventh grader, Perry enters his senior season with 4,359 career points for the Lyons.
Earlier this year he passed “King” Kelly Coleman for the spot atop the Kentucky boys high school basketball scoring leaderboard during the Boys’ Sweet 16 state basketball tournament at Rupp Arena.
The 6-foot-2 Perry (who is the top basketball recruit from Kentucky in the 2024 recruiting class) has been the driving force behind consecutive state tournament appearances for Lyon County.
But now, it’s time for Perry to make a highly anticipated choice concerning his basketball future.
During the summer travel basketball circuit in 2022, Perry caught the attention of a plethora of college basketball coaches, earning several high-major scholarship offers.
With that list of schools now down to just five, and with Perry’s college commitment just hours away, here’s a look at Perry’s history with each of his five finalists.
Alabama
After a late recruiting push, it appears Alabama has gotten the last visit from Perry in his recruitment. Perry was in Tuscaloosa last weekend for his official visit to the Crimson Tide.
Head coach Nate Oats has also gotten to work in recent weeks when it comes to the Crimson Tide’s 2024 recruiting class.
Oats has secured commitments from both power forward Aiden Sherrell (No. 21 in the RSCI) and small forward Naas Cunningham (No. 42) since late September.
Cincinnati
The Bearcats were part of the flurry of scholarship offers that came to Perry after a standout grassroots season in summer 2022.
Cincinnati offered Perry a scholarship in June 2022, and he took an official visit to Cincy in October 2023, which included a stop at the Bearcats’ football home game against Baylor.
In January, Perry was in Lexington with his Lyon County squad to play current UK freshman Reed Sheppard and North Laurel in what proved to be a thrilling high school basketball game. The next day, Perry was at Cincinnati to watch the Bearcats play.
Third-year Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller has made Perry a clear priority, and the Bearcats are still a strong contender to land him.
Cincinnati announced a pair of class of 2024 signees on Wednesday, the first day of the NCAA’s early signing period: Small forward Tyler Betsey, the No. 32 ranked player in this recruiting cycle per the RSCI, and power forward Tyler McKinley, who is ranked No. 68 by the RSCI.
Kentucky
An unofficial visit to UK turned into a scholarship offer for Perry from the Wildcats in June 2022.
This materialized less than a week after UK head coach John Calipari watched Perry play at a high school basketball showcase event in Shelbyville. When Calipari extended that scholarship offer to Perry, it was just the fifth UK offer to be extended to a class of 2024 prospect.
While Perry has been to Lexington plenty of times, including for both the 2022 and 2023 editions of Big Blue Madness, Perry has never taken an official recruiting visit to UK.
In February, Perry set the single-game scoring record for Lyon County with a 61-point game at Dawson Springs with Calipari in the crowd.
Both of Perry’s parents graduated from UK, and the commonwealth’s flagship school has recently seen an uptick in recruiting top in-state players.
Calipari inked only two in-state players in his first 10 recruiting cycles at Kentucky: Dominique Hawkins and Derek Willis, both members of the 2013 recruiting class. Dontaie Allen (2019) and Reed Sheppard (2023) have both been signed by the Cats in recent years.
With this said, UK is not expected to be Perry’s choice.
On Wednesday, the Wildcats announced the signings of both center Somto Cyril and guard Boogie Fland, UK’s only two commits in the 2024 recruiting class.
Ole Miss
The Rebels were in early on Perry, and it came via a different coaching staff. When Kermit Davis was still the head men’s basketball coach at Ole Miss, the school offered Perry a scholarship in May 2021.
Even though Davis was fired in February, new head coach Chris Beard has continued the courtship of Perry.
Perry has taken official visits to Ole Miss under both of the Rebels’ recent coaching staffs. Those official visits occurred in November 2022 and September 2023.
Additionally, Ole Miss had an in-home visit with Perry in October.
Ole Miss has three commits in the 2024 recruiting cycle, including four-star big man John Bol, who was previously committed to Florida.
Ole Miss is currently viewed as the favorite to land Perry.
On Wednesday, the Rebels announced the signings of two players: Bol and Brazilian guard Eduardo Klafke.
Western Kentucky
First-year WKU head coach Steve Lutz would score a major recruiting win by landing Perry, who has only taken unofficial visits to Western Kentucky.
While Kentucky is often referred to as the hometown school for Perry, Western Kentucky is obviously significantly closer to his Lyon County home: WKU’s E. A. Diddle Arena is less than a two-hour drive from Lyon County High School.
So far, WKU has just one signee in the 2024 recruiting class, Lutz’s first as head coach: Hometown small forward Kade Unseld from Warren Central High School signed with WKU on Wednesday.
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