Lamont Butler exits with injury, Kentucky still earns 5th Top-10 win
By SAM LANCE
No. 15 Kentucky was down to its fourth point guard after senior Lamont Butler exited at the nine-minute mark with a shoulder injury and the Wildcats leading 54-52. But somehow, some way, Kentucky dug deep and closed out No. 5 Tennessee, securing a gritty 75-64 victory.
Coming into the contest, Kentucky had lost four out of seven and were in need of a confidence building win. That’s exactly what the Wildcats got on Tuesday night. Kentucky finished on a 10-2 run, including a resounding alley-oop slam by junior guard Otega Oweh.
Kentucky now has five Top-10 wins in coach Mark Pope’s maiden season, the most of any Division 1 program.
.@kobybrea @OtegaOweh just sent @Rupp_Arena into a FRENZY
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) February 12, 2025
– ESPN pic.twitter.com/ZIdXGZDoBP
Oweh and senior forward Ansley Almonor led the way for Kentucky with 13 points. Senior guard Koby Brea added 11 points, including some clutch triples in the second half, while freshman guard Trent Noah dropped a career-high 11 points. Noah had just 24 points on the season coming into Tuesday’s game.
Kentucky shot 12-of-24 from 3-point range and Tennessee was just 3-of-18 (17%) from beyond the arc, which was the biggest difference in the game. This was a huge win for Kentucky, who have now beaten Tennessee twice. The only bad news was Butler’s injury. Kentucky still outscored Tennessee 21-11 when he went down.
ESPN's @MollyAMcGrath said on the telecast that Kentucky guard Lamont Butler has indeed reaggravated his left shoulder injury. Recently missed three games with the injury.
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) February 12, 2025
Butler had previously missed three games with the shoulder injury before returning on Saturday in the Wildcat’s 80-57 win over South Carolina. He played 23 minutes and had eight points, three assists and a steal. Before exiting Tuesday’s game, Butler had six points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Postgame, Pope commented on Butler’s injury.
“Lamont, it was just super scary,” Pope said. “The second he went down, you could kind of see as he extended out that it just torqued his shoulder a little bit. It was just exactly what we didn’t want to do. He was incredible and he was brave tonight too. He’s playing as a one-arm bandit out there and he’s just working for his team. We’ll patchwork it together, we’ll keep figuring it out. But I thought he was brilliant.”
Up next for Kentucky (17-7, 6-5 in SEC) will be a road game against Texas, which got obliterated by No. 2 Alabama Tuesday night. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on Saturday.
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