LEXINGTON, Ky. (WYMT) – At the 2024 Kentucky Basketball Media Day inside Historic Memorial Coliseum on Tuesday, Oct. 8, freshman forward Trent Noah and UK men’s basketball head coach Mark Pope talked about the upcoming season.

For Noah, Harlan County’s first UK men’s basketball player since Dickie Parsons in the late 1950s and early 1960s, his focus so far in Lexington has been adjusting to the college game just like any other freshman.

“It’s completely different,” Noah said. “The speed of the game, the size, the strength and the athleticism. That is all different, but I feel like I’m doing a fairly good job. My players always build me up and give me confidence and so do my coaches.”

One of those coaches is Mark Pope, who not only raved about Noah’s adaptability to coaching points, but also on how the freshman’s upbringing in Eastern Kentucky has shined through his character on and off the court.

“I don’t know Eastern Kentucky like people who grew up in Eastern Kentucky,” Pope said. “I don’t know it well like them, but if you had a guy that was going to represent the eastern half of this state in a brilliant, brilliant way…this Trent Noah is really special that way.”

The Cats will be on the court together for the first time this season for Big Blue Madness on Friday, Oct. 11 at 7:00 p.m.

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