Kentucky standouts Otega Oweh, Lamont Butler react as former teammate commits to Chris Beard's Ole Miss

Former Kentucky guard Travis Perry has committed to the Ole Miss Rebels from the NCAA portal. The 6-foot-1 guard from Lyon County left it late as he entered the portal hours before the deadline and has now decided on his new destination.

He was one of the two players who moved to the portal from the Kentucky Wildcats last season. The other one was fifth-year star guard Kerr Kriisa, who committed to Cincinnati.

Perry announced his move to the Ole Miss Rebels on Sunday with an Instagram post, and his former Kentucky teammates Lamont Butler, Otega Oweh and Amari Williams congratulated him on the move.

Lamont Butler, Otega Oweh reacts to Travis Perry's move to Ole Miss (Image via Instagram/@tjp_11)

With three years of eligibility left, Perry decided to move on from Kentucky after the head coach, Mark Pope strengthened the depth of the team, especially by bringing in more guards. The Kentucky native seemingly expected his gametime to significantly reduce next season, and hence, he entered the portal late.

Perry, in his freshman year, was more of a bench piece for Pope as he averaged 2.7 points per game while shooting 31.3% and 32.1% from the 3-point line. He only averaged 9.8 minutes per game.

He featured in 31 appearances for the Wildcats while making only four starts. His starts in those games came due to injuries to Kriisa, Butler and Jaxson Robinson. He didn't feature in the two NCAA Tournament games after suffering a wrist injury during the SEC Tournament.

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The Kentucky Wildcats are building a strong roster for the upcoming season

The Kentucky Wildcats finished their 2024/25 campaign after crashing out of the Sweet 16 round in March Madness. They suffered a 78-69 loss to the Tennessee Volunteers.

UK have announced the arrival of five players from the portal, which include junior guard Denzel Aberdeen from Florida, sophomore forward Mouhamed Diabete from Alabama, sophomore guard Jaland Lowe from Pittsburgh, freshman big man Jayden Quantance from Arizona State and freshman wing Kam Williams from Tulane.

They will have four returnees from last season - junior guard Otega Oweh, freshman guard Collin Chandler, freshman forward Trent Noah and sophomore center Brandon Garrison.

Kentucky will also be bringing in three first-year players next season. Those players are in-state center Malachi Moreno, Croatian big man Andrija Jelavic and guard Jasper Johnson.