Breaking: Two Arkansas Star Commit To Kentucky….
Ulis spent the last two seasons on Kentucky’s bench as a student assistant.
Former Kentucky star point guard and student assistant coach Tyler Ulis will be joining John Calipari in Fayetteville.
Calipari revealed the news on the latest edition of his ‘Ways to Win’ podcast , saying, “He has an injury to his hip and they do a surgery. Then it becomes muscles in his abdomen and that affects him. Then he goes home and he’s trying to get back and he has a car accident that almost takes his leg off. What I did was say, ‘Get down here, finish your degree. You’re gonna be on my staff.’ And he’s coming with me to Arkansas too.”
Ulis signed with Kentucky as a five-star point guard out of Chicago as a member of UK’s 2015 signing class. He helped lead UK 38-1 2014-15 season that ended with a Final Four loss to Wisconsin by averaging 5.6 points per game, 3.6 assists, 1.8 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game.
As a sophomore, Ulis was outstanding, averaging 17.3 points per game, 7.0 assists, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game as he helped lead UK to an SEC Tournament championship. He was named the SEC’s Player of the Year, SEC Defensive Player of the Year, won the Bob Cousy Award and earned Consensus first-team All-American honors.
Ulis was drafted in the second round of the 2016 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns and wound up playing four seasons in the NBA.
He was injured in a head-on collision in 2022 and afterwards opted to return to Kentucky to finish his degree and take a role as a student assistant coach during the 2022-23 season.
Ulis wound up in a student assistant role for two seasons, as he was allowed to be on Calipari’s bench, assist in on-court activities, individual workouts and film sessions.
Now, he’ll head to Arkansas in a role that has not yet been disclosed.
Ulis is the third member of UK’s 2023-24 staff following Calipari to Fayetteville, as Chin Coleman and Chuck Martin were also re-hired by Calipari.
Kenny Payne, who served as Calipari’s top assistant in Lexington from 2010-20, will also be on Calipari’s debut Razorback staff.
Harlan County’s Trent Noah signs with Kentucky
Trent Noah will join the Wildcats after being released from his national letter of intent with South Carolina.
Mark Pope and Kentucky are adding a second in-state star to its 2024-2025 roster as Wednesday it landed a commitment from Harlan County small forward Trent Noah.
“Trent Noah is one of the elite shooters in this class,” Pope said via press release. “He is a tough, hard-nosed player with a special physicality. As an eastern Kentucky native, Trent will bring a grit, toughness and determination to the program that is representative of this state. We’re looking forward to Trent joining this talented group.”
Noah had previously committed and signed with Lamont Paris and South Carolina but, on May 7, was granted release from his national letter of intent and took to social media, citing the desire to “pursue basketball opportunities closer to home.”
The 6-foot-6 Baxter, Kentucky native is a 247sports composite four-star prospect ranked the 103rd best player in the class of 2024, 24th best small forward and as the second best player from the Commonwealth only behind Kentucky signee Travis Perry of Lyon County.
“Trent Noah is a strong-bodied wing and elite shooter of the basketball,” 247sports director of scouting Adam Finkelstein wrote. “His game is based on the three-point line. He’s not only one of the best in the class when it comes to making spot-up shots, and thus providing gravity as a floor-spacer, but also capable of making shots on the move. He’s a heady offensive player and good passer who knows how to play within offensive structure. Noah has a strong and fairly broad frame, which can allow him to defend some bigger players. He is also a solid wing rebounder. He needs to continue to work on his defensive quickness and his ability to create his own offense.”
His historic high school career saw him score 3,707 points, which is the fifth most in KHSAA history.
The All-State selection averaged 29.9 points per game as a high school senior while averaging 10.4 rebounds per game. He led Harlan County to the KHSAA State Championship Game where it fell to Perry and Lyon County.
The addition of Noah, as well as holding on to Perry, who had previously committed to John Calipari, comes after Pope made it clear he would recruit in-state talent at his introductory press conference in April.
“From Richie Farmer and all of the instate greats that came before him, including Reed [Sheppard] … Travis Perry next year.
“Before Richie and after Travis and everybody in-between that is an instate Kentucky kid, these young men that grow up in Kentucky, they bring a spirit to the team that cannot be fabricated or replaced and it helps us to win,” Pope said. “We will continue to recruit them.”
Calipari did not recruit Noah while at Kentucky.
Noah will join Perry and former four-star prospect Collin Chandler, who had previously signed with BYU and had just returned from a two-year mission to make up the Wildcats 2024 freshmen class.
Overall UK now has 10 players on Pope’s debut roster as it also has added seven transfers in Amari Williams (Drexel), Lamont Butler (San Diego State), Otega Oweh (Oklahoma), Andrew Carr (Wake Forest), Brandon Garrison (Oklahoma State), Koby Brea (Dayton) and Kerr Kriisa (West Virginia).
