Rival schools among programs expressing early interest in Travis Perry

Travis Perry is garnering plenty of high-major interest less than 48 hours after entering his name into the transfer portal.

According to On3’s Joe Tipton, Perry has heard from several schools since announcing his intentions to leave the Kentucky men’s basketball program on Tuesday night. Two programs that stand out on the list are Arkansas and Louisville. The likes of Ole Miss, Maryland, Vanderbilt, Iowa, Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, LSU, Western Kentucky, and South Carolina have also reached out. That’s a lot of SEC schools (and a former SEC head coach in Buzz Williams, who is now at Maryland) for the Lyon County product.

As a true freshman for the Wildcats in 2024-25, Perry averaged 2.7 points in 9.7 minutes per outing across 31 games played (including four starts) while shooting 32.1 percent from deep.

Kentucky transfer guard Travis Perry has received interest from the following schools since entering the portal, per his agent Nate Conley:

Ole Miss
Arkansas
Maryland
Vanderbilt
Louisville
Iowa
Georgia
Tennessee
Missouri
LSU
Western Kentucky
South Carolina https://t.co/0i8GuIn6xt

— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) April 24, 2025

The Big Blue Nation might have a social media meltdown if Perry were to transfer to either Arkansas or Louisville. Of course, Perry was once committed to John Calipari at UK but stuck with the Wildcats once Calipari took the head coaching job at Arkansas. Then you have the in-state rival Cardinals also poking around at a player who grew up living and breathing Kentucky basketball. Tennessee is in the mix, too, just to twist the knife a bit more. Rick Barnes must remember those two critical three-pointers Perry hit in Rupp Arena against the Volunteers pretty well.

Two schools that make the most sense on this list, though, are Ole Miss and Western Kentucky. Both were among Perry’s five finalists out of high school. Rebels’ head coach Chris Beard was openly praising Perry during the NCAA Tournament, while WKU has the proximity to home advantage. Ole Miss also has a clear need at point guard.

“I love Travis,” Beard said a pregame press conference last month. “He’s one of those guys that’s addicted to basketball; loves it. Basketball guy. So I enjoyed recruiting him, getting a relationship with his family. In recruiting you don’t get so many more guys than you do get. But I was really happy for him that he found a great fit and played a great role as a freshman for Coach Pope’s team. And he’s a guy I always cheer for, have nothing but respect for. That dude’s a baller, man. He loves basketball.”

Regardless, if Tipton’s list of interested schools ends up being the pool Perry picks from, there’s a very good chance he’s matched up against his former team at some point during the 2025-26 season.