It turns out rumors of Travis Perry's shooting prowess did not tell the entire story.
Yes, the narrative that the freshman made 100 of 100 free throws during a drill in practice is true. But he accomplished the feat three days in a row, pushing that outrageous streak to 300.
"That is true," Perry confirmed Thursday. "We started a new shooting competition this week as a good team building thing and also to make sure we're all getting our shots in."
Like a pitcher twirling a no-hitter into the latter innings, nobody says a word to jinx the streak as the tally reaches into the 90s.
"It's pretty silent," Perry said. "To be honest, the guy rebounding for me, I think he's almost more focused than I am. If I have something close to a miss, but it still goes in, he'll take a breath and make sure I take a breath and then throw it back to me. It's great like to see that that those guys are really taking it as serious as you are."
The obvious question, how many of the free throws even drew iron?
"Not many," Perry said with a smile. "Got pretty hot those days, yes sir. They're free, you got to make them."
Some, however, did flirt with bounding out.
"If you have a couple a couple of shots in a row that maybe you make them, but they're a little bit too far right and they're not perfectly down the middle, you might tweak a couple things," Perry said. "But I've done so many reps at the free-throw line and the 3-point line, it's just trying to do the same thing every time.
"I'm trying to almost be mindless about it," he said. "I allow myself maybe one shot thought, but that's about it. If you start getting two, three, four shot thoughts every time then you're thinking more than you're shooting."
Perry, the 2024 Kentucky Mr. Basketball and Sweet 16 champion with Lyon County, holds three all-time state prep records – 5,481 points, 712 3-pointers and 650 steals. In an earlier UK practice, he made 59 consecutive 3-point baskets from the left corner.
"You're standing there shooting an open shot, like there shouldn't be any pressure," Perry said. "But when you start getting above 30, you start thinking about it a little bit, started getting a little bit pressure in your head. But it's fun to kind of compete against yourself every day."
Turns out Perry competes with himself a lot as students don't return to the nearly empty campus until next month.
"It's so easy. I mean, you're living right here, like it's 27 steps from your room to be able to get shots up," Perry said. "It's incredible the access you have and it's impossible not to become a better shooter here.
"That's something that I love about it," he said. "If I get bored sitting in my room, it's like, let's go get some shots up. Shoot a couple couple hundred shots. You go back to your room and if you get bored an hour or so later, come back and do it again. It's just super fun for a guy like me."
Kentucky coaches have instructed players to get up 300 shots each day.
"The coach is really wants to get up 300, but I've been getting between 500 and 1,000 a day," Perry said. "We're a little bit more free here in the summer and I get bored a lot. So instead of watching some YouTube or something, I'm over here and get 300 shots. And that's a better use of your time."
Perry, who hails from a school of fewer than 300 students in grades 9-12, is amazed by the technology in the Joe Craft Center.
"The technology here tracks everything. It's incredible," Perry said. "You don't have to track the shots in your head. You don't have to worry about the gun messing up. The technology tracks it perfectly."
Old habits, however, are hard to break.
"I'm definitely still counting them," Perry said. "I'm a guy that has to count them all in my head just to know. I can't let the numbers start slipping. If you miss a couple in a row, you gotta make three or four in a row. So it's kind of like a constant battle with yourself, which is really, really fun, honestly."
Interestingly, coaches have not tinkered with Perry's shooting form.
"They know we can shoot the ball," Perry said. "But there are little things obviously like holding the shot, getting your feet under you. Basic mechanics, they might tinker with a little bit, but they do a good job of coaching, but not changing.
"The main thing is just keeping the shot the same," Perry said. "The main shot tip the coach emphasizes for us is holding your shot, being true to your shot, just owning it and make sure that everybody in the gym knows that you're the person that took that shot. After that, it's really just just picking and choosing your spots picking and choosing when to take the shot when to ball fake and try to get something going the other way."
Not surprising, Perry's shooting prowess has made him the talk of summer workouts as the rookie appears to be coping with the transition to college better than might be expected, especially as one of just three freshmen on a veteran roster.
"All these guys are experienced veterans. They've all proven themselves on multiple stages," Perry said. "They could come in and push over you and not really want to help you, but they're all such great guys. They want to help you and sometimes even go out of their way to help you before helping themselves. That's been the biggest surprise for me.
"These guys know how to play the game of basketball, but they also know how to break it down for you so you can understand it and understand why you made a mistake or what you should do better next time," Perry said. "That builds you up. So it's a great system that we have going on. I'll keep saying it. We have great guys, great, great veteran leaders. You couldn't ask for better guys to learn under."
