Trent Noah credits Kentucky training staff for getting him back on the floor quickly after injury

Nine minutes into his 2025-26 season debut, Trent Noah went down with an ankle injury against Nicholls. The Kentucky sophomore was sliding his body across the hardwood as he tried to process the pain shooting into part of his leg. He would try to tough it and return later on in the game, much to the displeasure of his head coach.

Noah, a starter going into that game, was ultimately sidelined for the rest of Kentucky’s 77-51 win over Nicholls and would not return to action for another 10 days, when the Wildcats took down Eastern Illinois 99-53. Noah came off the bench in that one, finishing with eight points (2-5 3PT), three rebounds, and two steals in a season-high 22 minutes. He was actually cleared to play in the loss to Louisville three days prior, but Mark Pope did not find an opportunity to bring in the Bluegrass native.

Fast forward to now, three full weeks after his initial injury, and Noah is feeling like he was before going down.

“I feel back. I feel back, for sure,” Noah told reporters on Tuesday. “Just getting my foot speed and stuff back. I feel great.”

During his interview session, Noah took us back to that painful moment against Nicholls. He explained that he was fully prepared to check back into the game. But Pope ultimately had the final call — “There was zero chance I was putting him back in this game. We need him to get healthy and feel better,” Pope told Tom Leach afterward — and elected to keep his sharpshooter from making the situation even worse.

“I felt like I could run, but then whenever I kinda sat, then it started swelling up and it got stiff,” Noah recalled from the Nicholls game after his injury. “I was just trying to keep hopping around and stuff like that. I would have given it a try, for sure.”

Keeping him out was likely the right call, especially with the injury bug already biting this Kentucky roster (and seemingly every Kentucky roster over the last decade). We’re still only six games into the season. Noah has yet to truly find his footing on the floor so far this season, but stressing an injury further certainly wouldn’t speed up that process. Noah went out of his way to heap praise on the program’s senior athletic trainer, Brandon Wells, for doing everything possible to ensure he returned to full strength sooner rather than later.

“Our trainer is the best in the business. I mean, he spent so many hours with me,” Noah said of Wells. “The recovery process, I was — no joke — with him more than anybody else. He didn’t probably see his kids for like two weeks. And he goes through different kind of injuries, different kind of things all year. Major props to him, because he helped me big-time.”

It’s a small contingent of voices, but you’ll hear pockets of people on social media questioning the ability of the Wildcats’ training staff — despite having no actual insight into what’s actually happening behind the scenes. Injuries are the unfortunate side of sports. No matter how meticulously one trains or how healthy one eats, an injury can always strike when least expected.

It’s not just Noah who has dealt with an injury this season for Kentucky. Jaland Lowe popped his non-shooting shoulder out of place twice in three weeks. Pope said on Monday that Lowe is already back to doing non-contact skill work. Jayden Quaintance, who continues to recover from his ACL tear, went from doing live 2-on-2 drills last week to live 3-on-3 drills this week. His Kentucky debut doesn’t appear too far out. Mo Dioubate, who is also dealing with a bad ankle, which he suffered against Michigan State, sat out Kentucky’s last game and will likely do the same on Wednesday against Tennessee Tech as Wells works with him in the same way he did with Noah.

Outside of Pope, there might not be anyone working more hours inside the Joe Craft Center than Brandon Wells. Noah saw that firsthand, and he’s back on the court because of it.

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