With his future secured and a place in Harlan County basketball history guaranteed, Harlan County High School guard Trent Noah is focusing on team goals with his senior season opening Friday night at Jackson County.
“We want to win our district and win our region and make a deep run at the state tournament. We think we have a team that can make a run at it,” Noah said. “I think we definitely have a lot to prove.”
Noah enters his fifth season as a high school starter with 2,540 points scored to rank fourth on the county’s all-time list behind Blake Hubbs (2,618), Jordan Akal (2.629) and Charles Thomas (3,365). Needing 825 points to break Thomas’ record, Noah could get there in 32 games by averaging 27 points. He’s also in position, as the state’s third-ranked senior, to be only the third Mr. Basketball from Harlan County after Phil Cox (1981) and Charles Thomas (1995). After finishing second-team all-state twice, Noah could be the first player since Hubbs in 2005 to make first-team all-state.
“Things like that are really cool, and people talk to me about records, but ultimately if you don’t win it doesn’t mean a whole lot,” Noah said. “That stuff is cool, but I try not to pay too much attention to it. Our ultimate goal is to meet our team goals.”
“I’ve been around basketball a long time, and I feel Trent is one of the few kids I’ve seen who have improved every year,” said Harlan County coach Kyle Jones. “A lot of kids peak early, but he’s gotten better every year, and I think you’ll see a better version of him this year than last year. That’s hard to believe when he averaged 27 (points) and 12 (rebounds) last year, but I think he will.”
Jones said coaching Noah during his college recruitment, which ended this fall with a selection of South Carolina, was a memorable experience for him.
“Trent has a lot of God-given talent, but he has made the most of what he’s got,” Jones said,. “He’s put in the time and the work and has dedicated himself to being a good basketball player. Signing with an SEC school says a lot. It’s been 30 years since that happened. I think he’s got to go down as a top five player all time in this county, even before playing this season. He’s signed with an SEC school, he’s scored over 2,000 points and has been all-state twice. And he’s still humble about all that. He’s meant so much to the school and to me. I was able to meet a lot of people I wouldn’t have met if I wasn’t the coach.”
Noah began his basketball journey in grade school with endless days of shooting with his dad, Dondi, now an assistant coach with the HCHS boys.
“For as long as I can remember, no matter what sport it was, me and my dad would put in the work. We always believed good things come to those who work and trust in God,” Noah said. “My dad has been the one to push me, but he never pressured me to do anything. It’s been really fun to have him on this journey I’ve been on.”
Noah played several sports as a child but soon fell in love with basketball.
“I would say around fifth grade. It was football season, and I wanted to come in and shoot. I decided then I wanted to be a basketball player,” he said.
Noah understands the irony of giving up football for basketball considering his family connections. Dondi Noah was a quarterback at Cawood in the late 1980s under Jim Cullivan in an offense ran by Perky Bryant, his future father in law and Trent’s grandfather. Bryant was a football star at Evarts in the late 1950s and went on to play at the University of Kentucky as a member of the famed Thin Thirty squad of the 1960s before beginning a long and successful coaching career. Noah’s great uncle on his dad’s side, Tim Saylor, was a standout quarterback at Cawood who also signed with Kentucky and then played at Carson Newman before beginning his own coaching career that included two state runner up finishes at Cumberland in the early 1980s. Only Ed Miracle, in his days at Lynch, took more than one Harlan County team to the state finals in football.
After playing in grade school at Harlan, Noah moved to Rosspoint as a seventh grader and became the first eighth grader in the history of Harlan County High School to earn a spot on the varsity. He started at point guard in the 2020 season and found immediate success, averaging 11.8 points and five rebounds per game as the Bears finished 24-11, won a 52nd District title and advanced all the way to the 13th Region Tournament finals before falling 72-68 to Knox Central. Noah scored 16 points in a semifinal win over Clay County and 20 points in a hard-fought loss to the Panthers in a game that HCHS let get away down the stretch after leading much of the way.
“I guess when I was in that spot in the eighth grade I didn’t realize how big of a deal that was. I’d do anything to go back,” Noah said. “It was a lot of fun to do it with those guys I did it with, and, hopefully, we’ll get back this year and win it.”
Noah averaged 20.2 points and 9.8 rebounds per game as a freshman as the Bears finished 19-6, falling to Harlan in the 52nd District finals and to Knox Central in the first round of the regional when he missed the game due to an injury suffered in the district tournament. Noah averaged 28.1 points and 9.9 rebounds per game as a sophomore as the Bears finished 19-11 and lost in overtime to Bell County in the opening round of the district tournament.
Kyle Jones took over as coach last season and the Bears posted a 27-6 record, winning a 52nd District title while earning a ranking as one of the state’s top 10 teams in the RPI system used by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association. Noah earned second team all-state honors for the second straight year with averages of 26.5 points and 12.8 rebounds per game.
Noah started to draw attention from major colleges around the nation when he joined the AAU Midwest Baskeball Club before his junior season on a team that included current University of Kentucky guard Reed Sheppard, last year’s Mr. Basketball.
“It’s been really fun. I have to give props to Stacy Sheppard (Reed’s mom) for hooking me up with them. I started playing with them as a 16-year-old, then we have our own team when Reed (Sheppard) and the others moved on to college. It was super fun. It was awesome to let basketball take you around the world.”
Noah has one more trip planned before going to South Carolina for college. He will be part of an all-star team that is traveling to Italy in the spring.
Junior point guard Maddox Huff was second for HCHS last season with 16.9 points per game in his second year as a starter. Huff and Noah, who are first cousins, have played together their entire lives, which can be an advantage on the court where chemistry can be important.
“We’ve played together as long as I can remember,” Noah said. “Being first cousins and living beside each other, we have a special connection. I hope we can use that and get over the hump.”
“I was blessed to inherit a team with a couple of great players. The biggest thing with having players like Trent and Maddox is let them be themselves and let them play. You don’t want to handcuff them, so to speak,” Jones said. “I always knew Trent would be a great player. You could see he was going to be really good in the sixth grade, then he took a huge jump around the eighth grade. I’ve not been around been many kids who have improved every year of high school. Whether it’s been quickness or shooting or changing his body, it’s been something every year. I think this year he has improved his leadership role on the team, and a lot of people don’t realize how important that is to a team.”
While the Bears were one of the state’s top teams last year, a first-round loss to Corbin in the regional tournament helped drive them in the summer and the fall as they work to avoid another disappointment.
“It definitely left a bad taste in our mouths,” Noah said. “It wasn’t our night, and props to Corbin because they had a great game plan and was the better team that night. But this year, hopefully, we all remember that and won’t let it happen again.”
To help avoid a similar finish, Jones and the Bears have adjusted their offense to promote a more balanced offensive attack with guards Reggie Cottrell and Brody Napier, forward Caleb Johnson and center Jaycee Carter being counted on to improve their offensive output.
“I feel like we have a good thing going, but it makes it really hard to win if you don’t have other people scoring,” Noah said. “I think getting all our guys involved will help all of us. I feel it’s been a smooth transition, but it has been a change for all of us.”
“I think his big focus now is winning a regional title for his school,” Jones said. “Our goals are district and region, and I think that’s his focus. It would mean something to leave here and know he accomplished that.”