Trent Noah has been waiting his turn, and it has been worth the wait for the sophomore forward.
Noah’s playing time increased after Kam Williams suffered a broken foot in an 85-80 win over Texas on Jan. 21. Noah scored three points in a 72-63 victory over Ole Miss and then played 18 minutes with three points in an 80-55 loss at Vanderbilt on Jan. 27.
In last Saturday’s 85-77 win at Arkansas, Noah had a breakthrough and scored nine points and collected a career-high seven rebounds.
“I’m just trying to step up and do whatever the team needs,” Noah said. “It’s a long season, and different guys go down, unfortunately. Whenever my number is called, I always try to stay ready.”
Even when he wasn’t in the lineup, Noah credited the coaching staff for keeping him upbeat and prepared.
“I’m just trying to stay consistent and confident with all the coaches,” he said. “They do such a great job of building everybody up and giving us the confidence to go out there and then play free, fast and fearless, like the style that we play, so my teammates have been so good about it, too.
“It makes it so much easier when you can go out there and go to war with so many good players that create shots for you and create lanes for you. And so whenever you have guys like that — good people — in your circle, it makes the journey easier. For sure.”
The Wildcats (15-7, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) have won six of their past seven games going into Wednesday’s contest against Oklahoma. The Sooners are 11-11 overall and 1-8 in the league and have lost eight straight.
“I just feel like we’re getting it going,” Noah said. “We're getting hot at the right time, and then that's the beauty of it. We kind of started out a little slow earlier in the year, but whenever the new year came, and we're in SEC play, we're getting hot at the right time, and we just want to keep that up.”
Despite Oklahoma’s struggles, Noah said overcoming the Sooners won’t be an easy task.
“They're super talented,” Noah said, “Their SEC record might not be the most appealing, but they've lost so many close games. They're taking teams down to the wire. They're super dangerous, they're hot, and they can fill it up. We’ve got to be ready for them.
“… We had two close games with them last year, so they're going to be coming into Rupp Arena, trying to get a win.”
Gametracker: Oklahoma at Kentucky, 8 p.m.CT, Wednesday. TV/Radio: ESPN2, UK Radio Network on 94.7 The Mix and WiLLiE 102.
Trent Noah has become a contributor again for Kentucky. He had nine points and seven rebounds in Saturday's win over Arkansas. (Kentucky Today/Keith Taylor)
