Mark Pope’s first Kentucky basketball team broke a 32-year-old school record on offense
During Kentucky basketball’s NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional semifinal loss to Tennessee on Friday night, Mark Pope’s Wildcats broke a 32-year-old offensive record.
When UK fifth-year guard Lamont Butler connected on the Wildcats’ sixth (and final) made 3-pointer of the night against the Volunteers, it gave UK a total of 341 made 3-pointers for the 2024-25 season. That’s a Kentucky school record for made 3-pointers in a season.
Previously, the 1992-93 Kentucky team — the fourth Kentucky team coached by Rick Pitino — held that distinction. Those Wildcats, who went 30-4 and reached the Final Four in New Orleans, connected on 340 made shots from deep.
This season’s Kentucky squad entered Friday’s round of 16 NCAA Tournament matchup against Tennessee with 335 made 3-pointers. This exceeded the 3-point shooting total for last season’s Kentucky team (327), which had been the second-most in school history.
Pope’s first UK squad recorded 19 games this season with at least 10 makes from distance.
This season, six Kentucky players made at least 20 shots from 3-point range. Leading the way was fifth-year wing Koby Brea and his 93 made 3-pointers. Following Brea on the list of sharpshooters was fifth-year guard Jaxson Robinson with 62 triples. Robinson didn’t add to this total since Feb. 26, when he played in his final college basketball game after suffering a season-ending right wrist injury.
After Robinson came fifth-year forward Ansley Almonor (39 made 3s), junior guard Otega Oweh (27), Butler (27) and fifth-year forward Andrew Carr (23).
Other Kentucky players who made a 3-pointer this season were freshman guards Travis Perry (18) and Collin Chandler (17), sophomore forward Brandon Garrison (12), freshman forward Trent Noah (12), fifth-year guard Kerr Kriisa (10) and fifth-year center Amari Williams (1). Kriisa didn’t play for Kentucky since early December due to a season-ending foot injury.
As a collective, Kentucky ranks in the top 30 in the nation this season in the number of 3-pointers made. North Florida — which went 15-17 overall and didn’t qualify for the NCAA Tournament — leads the way with 409 made triples. The Ospreys averaged 12.8 made 3-pointers per game.
When Pope arrived at Kentucky last offseason following five seasons as the head coach at BYU, it was known that the former UK player and 1996 national champion with the Wildcats would be bringing a 3-point heavy style of offensive basketball with him.
Last season, Pope’s final BYU team attempted an average of 32 3-pointers per game, which was the second-most in the country for the 2023-24 season. That 2023-24 BYU team made 34.8% of those shots from deep, and the Cougars attempted more shots from 3-point range (50.4%) than 2-point range (49.6%).
Part of the offseason talk leading up to Pope’s first season as the head coach at Kentucky involved a stated goal for the Wildcats of attempting 35 3-point shots per game during the 2024-25 season.
The Wildcats didn’t quite live up to that mark.
Kentucky averaged 25.3 attempts from deep per game this season. The Wildcats had made an average of 9.47 3-pointers per game and shot 37.5% from distance, which ranks in the top 25 among all Division I schools.
Kentucky’s points distribution this season wasn’t overwhelmingly skewed toward the 3-point line. The Wildcats scored 33.7% of their points this season on 3-pointers, which ranked outside the top 110 nationally.
A key reason for this was UK’s efficiency on 2-point attempts, which can be attributed in part to opposing defenses taking the 3-point shot away from Kentucky. Kentucky converted on 55.6% of its 2-point tries, which ranks in the top 35 nationally.
This story was originally published March 28, 2025 at 9:53 PM.
