UK basketball’s Lamont Butler returned from injury to star against Louisville in rivalry win
READ MORE
Game day: No. 5 Kentucky 93, Louisville 85
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Louisville in Lexington.
Expand All
After a two-game absence, the Kentucky men’s basketball team got its starting point guard back.
And he delivered in a big way.
Fifth-year guard Lamont Butler — who arrived at UK this offseason after four standout seasons at San Diego State — returned to the court for Kentucky on Saturday night from an ankle injury.
Butler’s return in Kentucky’s 93-85 home rivalry win over Louisville was nothing short of spectacular. Butler scored a career-high 33 points with a career-best six made 3-pointers in the UK win. He also contributed six assists and three rebounds in the victory.
Butler shot a perfect 10-for-10 from the field, which tied his career high for made field goals in a game. According to UK, Butler is the only NCAA Division I player since the 1996-97 season to make all of his shots from the field, score at least 33 points and tally at least six assists in a game.
Butler had missed Kentucky’s last two games against Gonzaga (an overtime win) and Colgate (also a victory) while dealing with the effects of a right ankle injury suffered during a Dec. 3 road loss at Clemson, which remains the only defeat of the season for head coach Mark Pope’s Cats.
Pope said on UK pregame radio that Butler had only taken part in half a practice with the Wildcats this week.
“Lamont Butler just gave us one of the all-time greatest performances in the history of this super special game,” Pope said Saturday night.
Entering Saturday’s game against Louisville, Butler was averaging 12.9 points, 3.9 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. He was also shooting a career-best 55.1% from the field and 33.3% from 3-point range.
Safe to say, those numbers will now go up.
Butler’s absence for both the Colgate and Louisville games coincided with a longer-term injury for experienced UK backup point guard Kerr Kriisa. During the second half of the Gonzaga game, Kriisa suffered a foot injury that required surgery. Pope has estimated a six-week timeline for Kriisa’s return, which means the Estonian likely won’t return until at least late January.
Despite Butler’s return, Kentucky will still have to deploy some alternative strategies at the guard position given Kriisa’s absence.
This includes potentially using junior guard Otega Oweh and fifth-year wing Jaxson Robinson in a primary ball-handling role. Freshmen Collin Chandler and Travis Perry are additional options off the bench for Pope.
“It’s an incredible opportunity. It’s an opportunity for guys to step up and get reps and just get experience on the floor,” Pope said. “Which is good for us and good for our team. I do think that we have guys that are really capable. It’s kind of that same list: TP (Travis Perry) can play some there and Collin Chandler can play some there. We might swing Otega there a little bit. So, it makes us better. I’d still like Lamont to play.”
After Kriisa suffered his foot injury in the second half of the Gonzaga game, Robinson moved over to point guard and helped the Cats complete a stunning second-half comeback to score a major early-season win.
After that game, Pope joked about Robinson’s past reluctance to play point guard. Now, Pope says Robinson has adjusted to shouldering a bigger on-court load for the Wildcats, including at the point guard position.
“It’s so beautiful, because that’s what happens when you grow, right?” Pope said Friday. “The things that you hate because you’re not super comfortable with, you just kind of hang in there, hang in there, hang in there. And then all of a sudden, you kind of start to dig it because you actually get more confident at it. He has been really incredible… He’s just getting a chance to show the world how versatile he is and how unique his skill set is. It’s going to serve him well this year and in the future.”
This story was originally published December 14, 2024 at 4:44 PM.
