Kentucky's Trent Noah "feels surreal" about Mark Pope's team as he prepares for the 2025 college basketball season

Kentucky Wildcats forward Trent Noah will join Otega Oweh, Collin Chandler and Brandon Garrison as they are set to return to coach Mark Pope's side next season. The 6-foot-5 freshman appeared in an Instagram reel posted by Kentucky Men's Basketball on Monday.

Noah expressed his happiness playing for the team and putting on the Kentucky jersey in the interview.

"It's kind of still surreal to me that I get to wake up and put on Kentucky (jersey),” he said. “It's, it's crazy. I mean, growing up watching it, and now I'm here. I’ve been here over 365, days, and it still feels like the very first time I put it on. It's special. It's like magic," said Noah.

Trent Noah averaged 2.7 points on 45.1% shooting, including 33.3% from behind the arc. He also grabbed 1.9 rebounds, dished out 0.4 assists and stole the ball 0.1 times in 11.1 minutes per game, in his freshman year.

His best game came in the 75-64 win over the Tennessee Volunteers on Feb. 12, when he scored 11 points, grabbed two rebounds and one assist. He shot 3-for-4 from behind the three-point line and converted both of his shots from the charity stripe.

His performance earned him and his family praise from Pope in the post-game press conference. Writer and photographer Dylan Ballard shared an excerpt from the conference on X (formerly Twitter).

"How about a big massive shout-out for Eastern Kentucky showing up today, just very special," Pope said in the post-game conference. "I give all the credit to Trent Noah's family and his community where he grew up because this is who he is."

"He comes every single day and he gets no love from us, he is not a featured guy in practice, he is not getting the media attention, he is not gifted anything. ... He comes every single day and competes with full intensity and incredible physicality."

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Trent Noah talks about Travis Perry entering the transfer portal

Travis Perry will be accompanied by LSU's Corey Chest, Kansas' AJ Starr, Louisville's James Scott and more at the Ole Miss Rebels next season. Perry entered the transfer portal and joined Ole Miss on May 4.

Trent Noah also talked about his classmate leaving the program.

“It stung,” Noah said. “I did everything I could to keep him here. He was one of my good friends, and he's an excellent player, but at the end of the day, you've got to do what's best for you."

The Wildcats have signed Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno, and received hard commitments from Braydon Hawthorne and Andrija Jelavic.