Year in review: Travis Perry resets Kentucky high school boys’ basketball record book
The last 12 months for Travis Perry have vaulted his high school basketball career and college basketball recruitment into rarefied air.
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, including from Kentucky.
Then, Perry backed all of that attention up during his junior season of high school basketball at Lyon County High School in Eddyville.
Perry broke the all-time Kentucky state individual scoring mark for boys’ basketball, shattered the single-game individual scoring record for Lyon County and helped lead the Lyons to the UK HealthCare Boys’ Sweet 16 state basketball tournament for a second straight season.
Perry entered the Sweet 16 averaging more than 32 points per game for Lyon County.
He only scored 23 points in an opening-round win over Newport, but in the process Perry passed “King” Kelly Coleman for the spot atop the high school boys’ basketball scoring chart.
Lyon County’s season ended Friday night with a loss in the state quarterfinals to defending state champion Clark County.
Perry had 19 points in that defeat.
“It’s always a good season when you end at Rupp,” Perry said Friday night after Lyon County’s season ended. “Overall we fought as hard as we could, we played as hard as we could, we played for each other and we fought to the end. The motivation to get back here is always there.”
Perry is now the new state scoring leader
Perry — who has been a varsity starter for Lyon County since he was a seventh grader — is now the state’s all-time leading scorer, and he has a full senior season to add to his total.
Perry ends his junior season with 4,359 career points scored for the Lyons.
“It’s something obviously very neat. But (Coleman) didn’t have the three-point line,” Perry said Thursday afternoon after becoming the state’s all-time leader in boys’ basketball scoring. “It’s never been about the scoring record. It’s been about going out and playing basketball.”
Perry’s junior season included a 61-point game in February at Dawson Springs that gave Perry the Lyon County single-game scoring record.
He pulled off that high-scoring performance in front of UK head coach John Calipari.
“Perry has admirable flow and pace as a shooter, and the overall economy of motion across his shooting spectrum is elite,” Pro Insight Basketball analyst Alex Brown told the Herald-Leader earlier this month. “This is especially evident when he runs off pin downs or pulls up off the dribble, and his ability to rise up quickly here makes him a very difficult player to defend, all factors considered.”
Last week, Perry was named the Gatorade Kentucky Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year.
Perry helping create team success for Lyon County
In addition to all of the individual accolades and honors that have gone Perry’s way this season, he’s also part of a historic period of team success for Lyon County boys’ basketball.
In 2022, the Lyons reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1951. In 2023, the Lyons made another trip to Rupp Arena as back-to-back 2nd Region Tournament champions.
Lyon County won during both trips to Lexington, as well.
In 2022, the Lyons beat John Hardin before losing in the state quarterfinals to Covington Catholic.
In 2023, the Lyons beat Newport before losing in the state quarterfinals to Clark County.
“I wasn’t ready for it to be over yet, I was looking forward to fighting for two more games after tonight. It’ll take a little bit to get over this one, obviously,” Perry said Friday night. “Exhausted, not really. Just thankful for this season we had.”
Travis Perry recruiting update
Perry remains uncommitted as a college basketball recruit.
The class of 2024 backcourt player has a long list of high-major offers that includes Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Purdue, Vanderbilt and Virginia.
Perry took official visits this season to Michigan, Ole Miss and Purdue, and he’s also expected to visit Virginia now that his high school season is over.
Perry watched four Vanderbilt home games during the Commodores’ 2022-23 season.
Perry is ranked as the No. 86 player in the 2024 class by both Rivals and 247Sports.
He’s ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 89 player overall and the No. 11 point guard in the 2024 class.
Kentucky offered Perry a scholarship in June 2022, and Perry was at both Big Blue Madness last fall and Kentucky’s home win over Auburn in February.
UK is still without a commitment in the 2024 recruiting class.
Four players in or formerly in the 2024 recruiting class with a UK scholarship offer — Tahaad Pettiford (Auburn), Ian Jackson (North Carolina), Airious Bailey (Rutgers) and Trentyn Flowers (Louisville) — have all committed to other schools.
This is part of a series of articles that will recap the high school seasons of incoming UK men’s basketball freshmen, top recruits currently being pursued by the Wildcats and other top men’s college basketball recruits from the state of Kentucky.
Read other articles in the series below:
