Lyon County star Travis Perry discusses new offers, standout play

Lyon County’s Travis Perry is one of just 37 players in Kentucky high school history to score 3,000 points in a career — and he’s done so before entering his junior year. He’s just 1,149 points away from breaking King Kelly Coleman’s all-time record of 4,337 points in a career (Wayland, 1953-56). He’s got a winning mentality with a knack for scoring, paving way for an explosion of interest in his recruitment, including three offers this week alone from Iowa, Purdue and Nebraska. Those join past scholarships from Ole Miss, Creighton, Western Kentucky and New Orleans.

Perry has established himself as not only a standout player in Kentucky, but a top-100 prospect in the rising junior class. He proved that once again this weekend in Shelbyville at the Titans-Rockets Summer Shootout, highlighted by a 42-point performance that included ten 3-pointers late Saturday evening.

What does the Lyon County star think of the attention? Perry sat down with KSR in Shelbyville following a blowout win over Pineville to open the event.

Check out the complete interview below.

How do you think you played today?

I feel like I played a pretty good. I’ve been kind of doctoring an ankle injury, sprained it I guess that’d be about two weeks ago. I just started going to open gym and practice Thursday, so I’d say, I feel like I moved pretty well. Didn’t shoot it the best, missed a couple of easy shots, but we won by about 40 and got a bunch of guys in, got some good minutes, got to work on a bunch of stuff. I guess it was a pretty good game overall.

What was it like playing in front of the college coaches in attendance?

In the beginning, it kind of was overwhelming. But you realize you’re going to play worse if you start thinking about it, get in your head. You just have to worry about playing your game and getting your teammates looks too because they’re in the same boat you are. We’ve got a lot of guys on our team that could potentially play college basketball, so it’s just about not forcing anything and playing my game.

It was an important week for you, picking up three new offers. What was it like having your phone ringing off the hook with new interest?

It was awesome. It’s kind of one of those things you always dream about and think about, like, you’re gonna be talking to a bunch of colleges and coaches, it’s gonna be really cool. And then when it finally happens, it just kind of hits you all at once. It’s pretty, pretty neat just hearing everybody who likes the way I play and thinks I could fit in their system and want to recruit me.

You picked up new offers from Iowa, Nebraska and Purdue this week. What was that like?

I got two on Wednesday (from Iowa and Nebraska) and I went to Purdue on Monday (and picked up an offer). It’s pretty neat. A couple of Big 10 schools called me up and just said that I’d fit in their system, they really liked the way I play and wanted to offer me scholarships. There’s not a better feeling in the world, really.

What does it mean to you that you’ve clearly established yourself as a high-major college basketball talent?

It’s definitely just a blessing. I’m trying to stay humble with it all, you can’t get a big head about it. Go out and play hard every game. If you’re here watching us play, you know our team played as hard as we can all the way through the buzzer. That’s one of the main things I like to stay with, no matter who I’m talking to, who thinks I’m good enough to play at their school, you’ve got to still play as hard as you can every game. That’s the main thing I try to take from it.

What separates you from the other players in your class?

I feel like right now, I’m shooting the ball pretty well. I didn’t shoot well that game, so it’s kind of a weird thing to say now, but I feel like my shot has gotten a lot more consistent over the past year. I’m shooting it really well. And just how hard I play, I feel like I play as hard as I can because you never know when it’s going to be your last game, never know when it’s going to be your last time playing in front of important people. You just never know who’s there, so you’ve got to play as hard as you can, no matter the score, all the way out.

Just trying to play a team game, not really worrying about myself. Getting the whole team involved, make sure everyone is having fun out there. Playing hard and being humble at the end of the day.

Ole Miss was your first major offer. What is your relationship like with the Rebels?

Yeah, it’s really good. Coach (Kermit) Davis has been on me from the beginning, he still calls all the time. He called me bright and early Wednesday morning. So yeah, it’s great talking to them, they send me texts and everything. Coach Kirby is here today. They’re having their Father-Son Camp today, so Kirby came instead of Coach Davis. We went down there for a visit for a football game, then we went for a team camp down there. They took our whole team around and showed us the facility, so got to get some of my guys to see something cool they might not usually get to see. So yeah, just the relationship with them is really good, they reach out a lot, talk to us a lot. I just really feel like they want me there and that’s important.

You’ve got some new Big Ten offers, SEC schools on you, two different styles of play. Is there a certain style that fits you best?

I wouldn’t really say a conference style. I would say, the way our high school team plays, we run up and down and get up a lot of shots. We play quick, play hard. Those are the types of things I kind of like to see. We’ve definitely got a lot of that. We play hard here, play hard in AAU, run up and down, shoot a lot of shots. You make mistakes in that way, but you learn from them and won’t make them the next time. Those are the main things, just kind of a free nature style of play, not really run sets every possession, stuff like that.

What position do you see yourself playing at the next level?

I feel like I’ll probably end up playing point at the next level, and a little bit off the ball. A lot of coaches I’ve talked to say they can see me playing both, but more at the one spot for them. Right now with our high school team, our biggest guy is 6-5, so we’re playing pretty much positionless basketball out there, just up and down. Point guard, shooting guard, I can play either one. I can play on the ball, off the ball, whatever the coaches need me to do, I feel like it’ll fit my game. In AAU, my team’s got a couple of good guards, so I can play the one or two, whatever my team needs me to do.

Do you have any other visits scheduled yet?

I don’t have any planned right now, but I’ll definitely set some up. Not really sure where I’m gonna go yet, but yeah, we’ve been talking to some people. Not sure where we’re gonna go yet, but we’re going to take some hopefully in the fall.