Wendy Haun
RICHMOND — After two years of playing at a community college in Illinois, Spencer Perrin is coming as close to home as he can get.
Perrin, a Danville native, considered South Dakota, Idaho, Middle Tennessee State, Louisville and Evansville, Ind., before ultimately making the decision to commit to Eastern Kentucky University.
“My parents are really excited, especially my mom,” Perrin said. “She’s been waiting for me to come back home so she can come to every game. She’s my biggest fan.”
While his parents have had a chance to see him play at Lake Land Community College in Mattoon, Ill., he said they will have more chances to come and see him once he becomes a Colonel. The 6-foot-6 Perrin, who only played one full year of basketball in high school, averaged 21.7 points at Boyle County. His high school coach, Ronnie Bottoms, said it was Perrin’s dedication to the game that stood out to him above anything else.
“The biggest compliment I could give Spencer, out of all the players I’ve coached, is he worked harder than any kid I’ve ever seen,” Bottoms said. “He wore me out his senior year. He’d call when everyone else would be home, he’d want to be in the gym, working on his ball handling and his shooting. I’ve always said that I haven’t coached kids who love basketball more than Spencer Perrin. He will do whatever it takes to win and be successful.”
Perrin said when he came to EKU on his visit, what struck him about the school was the immediate comfort he felt.
“The coaching staff was really nice,” he said. “It felt like I was home already with all of the coaches there.”
Bottoms said Perrin discussed the recruiting process with him and said he was pleased with how it turned out.
“The Eastern coaches did a great job recruiting him,” he said. “He had nothing but positive things to say about the process. He was more comfortable there than anywhere else. EKU is getting a steal. He still has a lot of good basketball in front of him.”
While at Boyle County, Bottoms said they had to keep moving Perrin around the floor because other teams would key on him too much. His career-bests (and school records) included 45 points and 23 rebounds. Bottoms descr-ibed Perrin as a player who could play any position on the court.
“He has unbelievable speed,” he said. “His wingspan is so big and he’s built so well, he can go inside or out. He got so much attention later in the year, when he played inside, they would double- and triple-team him. We would spread the floor with him at the point.”
Despite his numerous accomplishments, Perrin said he’ll be living his dream to play Division I basketball next fall. However, he knows that he still has to put in the work to achieve what he wants to achieve.
“I feel like I have a whole lot of things to prove,” he said. “I’d like to achieve a couple of goals, like getting better as a player, playing with my team and winning a championship when I come there.”
