Hard work has paid off for Travis Perry, starting as a summer legend knocking down 59 straight corner threes and 100 consecutive free throws on three days in a row — “I’ve never seen this at any level of basketball,” Mark Pope said of his freshman guard at the time. He hit a wall to open the regular season, starting with just seven points on 1-12 shooting overall through Christmas while struggling defensively and playing a bit rushed.

Then he shaved his mustache and it all clicked for him, scoring 18 points on 6-10 shooting in the five games since while adding four rebounds, two steals and one assist in 44 total minutes. His most recent effort was a career-high six points on 2-4 from three with a steal in 10 minutes. It was a performance that saw him miss his first three before drilling his next two, shots that helped push Kentucky’s lead from five to 12 and ultimately solidify the double-figure win over No. 11 Texas A&M.

Emerging as a strong backup point guard behind Lamont Butler, his head coach couldn’t have been more impressed in his performance against the Aggies among everything else we’ve seen from Perry since New Year’s Eve.

“TP, he’s terrific, isn’t he?  Again, really complicated defense. This is not a really easy defense to figure out,” Pope said. “What our guys are pretty good at is they are pretty good at figuring out what they are seeing we are pretty good about coaching them. Things change as much as they do with Texas A&M and that’s the next step for us to be able to really change with the changes. 

“But TP, you know I mean it was big shots, really big shots. Right? It made us feel a whole lot better. He’s got no fear. He’s just going out to play. It’s fun.”

It’s been slow, but sure progress since arriving on campus. What he’s doing now he couldn’t do then, just like what he’s doing now won’t compare to what we’ll see from him in the future.

The good news is the current product is enough to earn real minutes off the bench for the Cats.

“If you chart his trajectory you get to see these little steps that he’s taking, we all get to see it,” he continued. “It’s one of the great things about coaching and being fans that are really invested which is BBN is you get to actually see the beginning, the middle, and the growth that we get to prognosticate about where they are going and to see these guys grow is special and TP is definitely doing that. 

“This is a high-pressure game. It’s a top 10 game against one of the best defenses in the country and he was terrific.”

What’s been working for Perry to get to this point?

“It’s a little bit of a mixture: the reps from the beginning of the summer until now,” Perry said. “I’ve had a lot of reps against the best point guard in college basketball, against some of the best defenders in college basketball, so that goes a long way. But it’s also getting more comfortable with the college game, understanding the pace. That’s starting to come to me — the feel and the reads.”

Everything moved in fast-forward for Perry early on, the freshman guard happy to admit he was drowning a bit when he first got started in Lexington. As the reps have ramped up and the staff and his teammates have made it clear he belongs, he’s been able to experience mini breakthroughs.

If they can believe in his abilities to contribute now, he can too.

“The game is slowing down for me, and that’s something that’s big,” he said. “And the confidence side of it, guys are really showing a lot of confidence in each other, that’s something we’ve had all season. When you know the bench and the coaching staff has confidence in you, that goes a long way.”

He’s getting the clean looks, and to his credit, he’s making them.

“I definitely felt more comfortable tonight,” Perry continued. “I got a little bumped there early and had a couple open shots and hit them. [I’m] definitely getting more comfortable.”