LEXINGTON, Ky. — Travis Perry will always be part of an elite fraternity in Kentucky basketball history.

Since Wayland High School’s “King” Kelly Coleman was named the first Kentucky Mr. Basketball in 1956, the award signifying the commonwealth’s top senior in boys high school hoops has been awarded 70 times.

Perry, the former Lyon County High School star and Kentucky’s 2024 Mr. Basketball, was only the 20th of those 70 Mr. Basketball winners to play for the Kentucky Wildcats.

However, the news Tuesday night that Perry would enter the transfer portal after his freshman season at UK was the continuation of what has been an uneven, at best, showing by Kentucky Mr. Basketball winners playing for the University of Kentucky in the 21st century.

Consider: Of the 12 Mr. Basketball winners who played for UK in the 20th century, eight of them went on to be 1,000-points-plus career scorers as Wildcats — and two others became full-time starters for the Cats.

Conversely, so far in the 21st century, there have been eight Kentucky Mr. Basketball honorees suit up in UK blue and white. Only one, 2008 Kentucky Mr. Basketball Darius Miller of Mason County, went on to score more than 1,000 points (1,248) as a UK Wildcat.

A second 21st century Mr. Basketball, 2023 winner Reed Sheppard of North Laurel, would have almost certainly joined Miller in UK’s 1,000 points club had he not played so well as a Wildcats freshman in 2023-24 that he went third overall in the 2024 NBA draft.

As it is, Sheppard’s 411 college career points are the second most scored by a 21st century Kentucky Mr. Basketball winner in a UK Wildcats uniform.

Perry will depart Lexington after scoring 84 points as a Kentucky freshman.

Other than Miller and Sheppard, no 21st century winner of the Kentucky Mr. Basketball award has even reached 300 career points while playing at UK.

The UK struggles of Mr. Basketballs

The Kentucky Mr. Basketball Award winner who had the third biggest 21st century impact while playing for the Wildcats was 2013 honoree Dominique Hawkins of Madison Central.

Though he scored only 293 career points at UK, Hawkins as a freshman carved out a role as a defensive stopper on Kentucky’s 2014 NCAA Tournament runner-up team. As a junior in 2015-16, Hawkins was a hero of Kentucky’s 75-73 win over intrastate rival Louisville, scoring 13 points, including the Wildcats’ final five points of the game.

Hawkins was playing so well at the end of his senior season in 2016-17 as Kentucky’s sixth man that he earned all-tournament honors in the SEC tourney. He then proceeded to make 12 of his 17 field-goal attempts in UK’s four contests in the 2017 NCAA Tournament.

The other five Kentucky Mr. Basketball winners who have played for the Kentucky Wildcats this century have not left much of a mark at UK.

As the all-time career scoring leader in Kentucky boys high school basketball history (5,481 points) and the leader of tiny Lyon County’s 2024 state championship team, Perry is an iconic figure in our state’s hoops history.

For fans with an appreciation of the commonwealth’s basketball lore, that reality engenders some melancholy over Perry’s exit from Kentucky’s flagship university.

Due to injuries to veteran point guards Lamont Butler and Kerr Kriisa during Mark Pope’s debut season as UK head man, the 6-foot-1, 188-pound Perry made four starts for Kentucky as a freshman.

While averaging 2.7 points a game, Perry did not shoot as well as one would have expected (31.3% overall, 32.1% on 3-point tries) of such a prolific high school scorer. Defensively, he was often isolated for attack by opponents who were bigger, stronger and quicker.

Moving forward, Perry needs to add muscle, and he will have to figure out how to better defend against high-level athleticism. Given his high school pedigree, it will be shocking if Perry does not raise his shooting percentages substantially over the remainder of his college career.

Mostly, what Perry needs for improvement are game repetitions.

With Kentucky bringing in veteran guards Jaland Lowe (Pittsburgh) and Denzel Aberdeen (Florida) from the transfer portal plus adding a highly touted freshman backcourt player in Jasper Johnson, Perry’s path to getting those reps next season in Lexington was obstructed.

Before he chose Kentucky, Perry’s other recruiting finalists were Alabama, Cincinnati, Mississippi and Western Kentucky.

In Milwaukee last month during the opening rounds of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, Ole Miss head man Chris Beard talked like someone with an enduring interest in Perry.

“Yeah, I love Travis,” Beard said when asked about Perry by a Kentucky sportswriter. “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.”

With Perry’s departure from UK, Great Crossing High School star Malachi Moreno, the 2025 winner, will be the only Kentucky Mr. Basketball on UK’s 2025-26 roster.

Maybe Moreno, a skilled 6-11 center and a McDonald’s All-American, can become a rare 21st century Kentucky Mr. Basketball who goes on to make a substantial impact at UK.

Kentucky Mr. Basketballs at UK

How the winners of the Kentucky Mr. Basketball award who have gone on to play for the Kentucky Wildcats have fared at UK:

20th century

— 1957 Mr. Basketball: Billy Ray Lickert, Lafayette, 1,076 career points at UK

— 1959: Pat Doyle, North Marshall, 12

— 1961: Randy Embry, Owensboro, 393

— 1966: Mike Casey, Shelby County, 1,535

— 1971: Jimmy Dan Conner, Anderson County, 1,009

— 1974: Jack Givens, Bryan Station, 2,038

— 1979: Dirk Minniefield, Lafayette, 1,069

— 1982: Todd May, Virgie, 14

— 1983: Winston Bennett, Male, 1,399

— 1986: Rex Chapman, Apollo, 1,073

— 1987: John Pelphrey, Paintsville, 1,257

— 1988: Richie Farmer, Clay County, 898

21st century

— 2001 Mr. Basketball: Josh Carrier, Bowling Green, 110 career points at UK

— 2002: Brandon Stockton, Glasgow, 120

— 2008: Darius Miller, Mason County, 1,248

— 2009: Jon Hood, Madisonville, 95

— 2013: Dominique Hawkins, Madison Central, 293

— 2019: Dontaie Allen, Pendleton County, 159

— 2023: Reed Sheppard, North Laurel, 411

— 2024: Travis Perry, Lyon County, 84

— 2025: Malachi Moreno, Great Crossing, UK career yet to start

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