How Lamont Butler and Kerr Kriisa helped Travis Perry find himself as a PG2

Travis Perry As a rookie, he was a bit lost in the first few minutes, struggling to understand his role and take advantage of his limited opportunities. He scored a total of seven points in his first nine games at Kentucky, with the defense regularly being the talk of the town as it appeared the game was moving a little too quickly while shot attempts remained covered on the basket, 2-12 overall and 1-7 from three.

Then he shaved his mustache and found his superpowers again.

Obviously joking – although it’s a little suspicious that he’s scored in every game since that New Year’s Eve gaffe. Perry made his first 3-pointer since November and totaled four points in the Brown win, followed by three-pointers in both SEC wins against Florida and Mississippi State and a tough finish through contact at the rim in the loss at Georgia. He has 12 points on 4-6 shooting in that four-game stretch, plus four rebounds, one assist and one steal in 34 minutes, making him the team’s backup point guard behind Lamont Butler with Kerr Kriisa out with a broken foot.

Beyond the stats, he’s becoming noticeably more comfortable on both ends with each rep. There are two reasons for this, he says, and it’s the two fifth-grade guards who went out of their way to show him how it’s done.

For Butler, it was help on the court, as Perry was forced to go to war in daily practice battles against one of the best two-way point guards in college basketball. If he can do it against himself, he can do it against anyone.

“Competing against Lamont every day made all the difference in the world for me,” Perry said. “He’s the best defender I’ll play against all year. So when you play against him every day in practice, the game feels a lot easier.”

Then there’s Kriisa, who hasn’t played since Kentucky’s win in Seattle over Gonzaga. He barely played a role on the pitch, hobbling around in boots – although the energy he delivers screaming from the bench says something. His biggest influence, Perry says – at least in his case – was his leadership and guidance, taking the freshman guard under his wing and assuming the role of backup point guard, which he held for nine games until his injury.

“Kerr, he’s a great guy on the field and off the field. “He’s been a great resource for me during the time he’s been injured right now,” Perry said. “I’m just talking about all the little things, the attitude he had when he played the minutes I’m playing now, the attitude you have to have going in. One of the things he’s trying to get me to be big with is energy.

“You see the energy he has, that hasn’t really been my DNA in the past, but he’s working with me on it. There’s a lot of things that he did great on the offensive side of the ball, especially on the defensive side of the ball that he really helped me with. He was a great resource.”

He will be the first to tell you that it was a struggle at first, but now patience and persistence have paid off. After getting his feet a little wet and under him, he looks the part now and continues to impress in the crucial minutes as Butler catches his breath. As his confidence grew, so did the confidence of the fans watching him jog to the scorer’s table.

You no longer pray that he can keep up, but expect him to arrive and knock down one or two big opponents.

“Definitely a lot,” Perry said of his confidence and individual development. “It’s always a little difficult to move to a different environment, no matter where. I think I’ve definitely made a lot of progress in figuring out what I need to do in the minutes that I have and figuring out how to make an impact and give Lamont a hit here or there. … I definitely feel like I’m more comfortable in my role. … I think through the practices I’ve been doing, going against Lamont every day and learning from him and Kerr, I feel like I’m really comfortable just knowing what I need to do in my role .

“This is something that is really important. It’s been good, I feel like I’ve had some good tests so far – some good road tests, some good home games to feel somewhat comfortable in the SEC.”

He plays with a freedom and aggressiveness that we didn’t see much of at first. That was a big part of it too.

“I think it’s just a change in mindset. Go out there and play, play freely and not really worry about anything, be aggressive,” he continued. “I think it kind of came just when I figured out my role and knew what I needed to do and be consistent every night.”

How much of it was just watching the ball fall through the net? That certainly helped – but not everything. A lot of that comfort comes from being on the field in the film room or, again, from fighting in practice.

“It’s definitely important for everyone, especially people who like to call themselves shooters. It’s really important to see a shot go, so that was important,” Perry said. “But I also just watch the tape and see the little things that I did wrong in the beginning that I’m kind of correcting now by getting so many more reps in practice guarding Lamont or with our scout team to guard the scout we do.

“It all kind of came together.”

I’m still convinced it’s the mustache, but we’ll do the production however we can get it from PG2.