Mark Pope gets 100% real about Lamont Butler after win vs. Louisville
12/14/2024 11:33 PM
One of the best rivalries in college basketball is between Kentucky and Louisville. It’s been a little lopsided in recent seasons though as Kentucky has taken 12 of the last 15 meetings between the two teams as Louisville has hit a recent down period. The latest installment of the rivalry occurred on Saturday with Lamont Butler’s heroics drawing massive praise from Kentucky head coach Mark Pope.
Lamont Butler dropped 33 points during Kentucky’s 93-85 win against Louisville and Mark Pope called it one of the greatest performances he’s ever seen in this game.
“Lamont Butler just gave us one of the all-time greatest performances in the history of this super special game. All-time, the numbers back it up, the way he came into it backs it up,” Mark Pope said. “I’m so proud of him.”
Pope also gave major credit to Kentucky’s performance staff who helped Butler in terms of his training regime to get prepared for this big game. Butler suffered an ankle injury against Clemson back on Dec. 3 and had been sidelined for the past two games.
He made his return to the court against Kentucky and put up a great performance in his first game back.
Lamont Butler’s impact for Kentucky
Before the 2024-25 NCAA season began, Mark Pope was tasked with building a roster essentially from scratch. With the departure of former head coach John Calipari to Arkansas, the majority of the team transferred out and the incoming freshmen decommitted.
One of the players Pope brought in was Butler who was a transfer from San Diego State. Butler’s name rose to national prominence during San Diego State’s 2023 NCAA Tournament run to the title game when he hit a game-winning shot in the Final Four that put the Aztecs in the national championship.
This season, in his final year of college basketball eligibility, Butler has been having the best season of his career. In the eight games he had played prior to his injury, he was averaging a career-best 12.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.5 steals with splits of 55.1 percent shooting from the field, 33.3 percent shooting from the three-point line and 64.5 percent shooting from the free-throw line. His field goal percentage is also a career-high.
Overall, it’s been a highly successful start for Pope’s Kentucky debut. Pope played the final two seasons of his college career at Kentucky under Rick Pitino, and was a team captain during their 1996 national championship run. So far, Kentucky is 10-1 and they’ve won three consecutive games.
The post Mark Pope gets 100% real about Lamont Butler after win vs. Louisville appeared first on ClutchPoints.
