Live updates: Kentucky vs. Louisville college basketball

By John Clay

Updated December 15, 2024 7:35 AM

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.

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It’s the first meeting between two new coaches as Mark Pope and Kentucky take on Pat Kelsey and Louisville in the annual in-state rivalry game. Tipoff is set for 5:15 p.m. in Rupp Arena. ESPN has the television coverage.

Ben Roberts, Mark Story, Cameron Drummond and myself will be in Rupp Arena to provide the score, stats, observations and updates. You can follow Ben on Bluesky at @benrobertshl. You can follow the rest of us on X/Twitter at @markcstory, @cdrummond97 and @johnclayiv.

You can also follow a dedicated Kentucky basketball list on X/Twitter by clicking here.

Louisville coach Pat Kelsey said when he heard UK's Lamont Butler might not play. "I said, that cat is playing in this game. You can mark that one down. He's a stone-cold killer. He's a winner." #BBN #ukbasketball #uoflmensbasketball
— John Clay (@johnclayiv) December 15, 2024

Final: Kentucky 93, Louisville 85

Lamont Butler finishes with 33 points for UK.

Chucky Hepburn scores 26.

The final box: https://t.co/pJwNtHjuO3
— John Clay (@johnclayiv) December 15, 2024

Rivalry game pic.twitter.com/mrGh686u3o
— Maggie Davis (@MaggieDavisTV) December 15, 2024

Kentucky 74, Louisville 64 with 7:37 left.

Butler with 27 points for Cats, who are shooting 58.7 or the game. UK 9-of-16 from 3 for 56.3.

Hepburn with 20 points for Cards, who are shooting 42.9 percent. U of L 11-of-30 from 3.
— John Clay (@johnclayiv) December 15, 2024

TV TO (12:00): No. 5 Kentucky 67, Louisville 61.

Lamont Butler 26 points, Chucky Hepburn 20 in what has been an elite point guard matchup
— Mark Story (@markcstory) December 14, 2024

Yesterday, Mark Pope said he felt good about his point guards with Lamont Butler out. But Pope said he sure hoped Butler could play.

Actually, he's balling. Butler has 21 points. He's 7-of-7 from the floor, 5-of-5 from 3. Kentucky leads Louisville 57-47 with 16:32 left.#BBN
— John Clay (@johnclayiv) December 14, 2024

Halftime: Kentucky 46, Louisville 40

The box: https://t.co/NjeSjUQ2Zi
— John Clay (@johnclayiv) December 14, 2024

Kentucky 39, Louisville 31 with 3:43 left in the first half. Cats are shooting 70 percent from the floor (14-of-20), including 83.3 from 3 (5-of-6).

Louisville's Terrence Edwards leads all scorers with 13 points.#BBN #ukbasketball #uoflmensbasketball
— John Clay (@johnclayiv) December 14, 2024

Kentucky 28, Louisville 16. 11:05 left in first half.Cats are 4-for-4 from 3-point range.UK has 9 assists on 11 made baskets.Otega Oweh: 6 points, with two thunderous dunks.Zero fouls on Kentucky so far.All Cats so far.
— Ben Roberts (@benrobertshl.bsky.social) December 14, 2024 at 5:38 PM

Kentucky bursts out of the starting gate. Cats 14-5. Louisville calls time at 16:59 of 1H.

Kentucky 5-of-5 from the floor, including 2-of-2 from 3.#BBN #ukbasketball
— John Clay (@johnclayiv) December 14, 2024

Lamont Butler is on the floor for pregame warmups for Kentucky.

Less than 90 minutes until tipoff for UK-Louisville at Rupp Arena. pic.twitter.com/fGdCkVFtr9
— Cameron Drummond (@cdrummond97) December 14, 2024

Officials for Kentucky vs. Louisville basketball are Pat Adams, Jeb Hartness and Lee Cassell. #BBN #ukbasketball
— John Clay (@johnclayiv) December 14, 2024

Kentucky’s Amari Williams competes against Louisville during Saturday’s game in Rupp Arena. Brian Simms bsimms@herald-leader.com

Scouting report: Louisville

The Cardinals are 6-4 under former Charleston coach Pat Kelsey, who replaced former UK assistant Kenny Payne. Louisville owns wins over Indiana and West Virginia, but that was with Kasean Pryor, now out for the season with a torn ACL. The shorthanded Cardinals lost 76-65 to Duke last Sunday but defeated UTEP 77-74 on Wednesday.

James Madison transfer Terrence Edwards has come on of late. He’s scored 43 points in U of L’s last two games. KenPom has Louisville ranked 60th in adjusted overall efficiency. The Cardinals rank 81st in adjusted offensive efficiency and 43rd in adjusted defensive efficiency. U of L is making just 27% of its 3-point shots, which ranks 341st in Division I.

Louisville basketball roster

Louisville basketball schedule and results

Louisville basketball statistics

Scouting report: Kentucky

Kentucky is 8-1 for new coach Mark Pope, the former Wildcat who was previously head coach at BYU and Utah Valley. UK followed a scintillating 90-89 overtime win at Gonzaga with a “weird” 78-67 victory over Colgate on Wednesday night at Rupp.

The Cats are 10th in KenPom’s adjusted overall efficiency rankings. They rank ninth in adjusted offensive efficiency and 30th in adjusted defensive efficiency. Sharpshooter Koby Brea is coming off a 17-point game against Colgate in which the Dayton transfer made five of his eight 3-point shots.

Kentucky basketball roster

Kentucky basketball schedule and results

Kentucky basketball statistics

This story was originally published December 14, 2024 at 4:15 PM.

John Clay

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-472-4218

John Clay is a sports columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader. A native of Central Kentucky, he covered UK football from 1987 until being named sports columnist in 2000. He has covered 20 Final Fours and 42 consecutive Kentucky Derbys. Support my work with a digital subscription