Lamont Butler's career night leads Kentucky past Louisville in new era of basketball rivalry

Ben Roberts, Lexington Herald-Leader on Dec 14, 2024

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky Wildcats didn’t waste any time in this rivalry game.

It still took a while to settle it.

In the end, Lamont Butler was the star, and the No. 5-ranked Cats fought off several Louisville rally attempts for a 93-85 victory Saturday night in Rupp Arena.

In Mark Pope’s first game as head coach in the rivalry, the former UK captain got the best of first-year Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey, and the Cats defeated the Cardinals for the sixth time in the last seven meetings and the eighth consecutive time in Rupp Arena. (Pope’s predecessor, John Calipari, was 13-3 against U of L and 7-0 at home.)

Butler returned for the Cats — after missing the team’s victories over Gonzaga and Colgate with an ankle injury — and he helped spark Kentucky’s hot start.

Butler assisted on two of UK’s first three baskets and hit a 3-pointer in transition to give the Cats a 14-5 lead less than three minutes into the game, prompting Kelsey to call a timeout while the sold-out Rupp Arena exploded. By the time Butler got his first rest of the game — with 14:04 left in the first half — he had six points, three rebounds and three assists, and UK led 19-9.

Louisville was able to keep the margin within single digits for most of the first half, but Butler drove for a layup at the halftime buzzer to give Kentucky a 46-40 lead at the break.

The Cards scored first to start the second half, but Butler scored often after that.

UK’s point guard made three more 3-pointers in the first three minutes of the half — putting him at 5 for 5 from deep for the game — to counter three Louisville baskets out of the break.

U of L narrowed the deficit to three points at three different times in the second half, but Kentucky went on a 7-0 run after the third such occasion, and the Cardinals never got within five points again, though that was the margin with less than two minutes remaining.

Butler ended up going a perfect 10 for 10 from the field and led the Wildcats with a career-high 33 points, adding six assists in 32 minutes. His only misses were at the foul line, where he went 7 for 12. Butler was joined in double figures by Otega Oweh (17 points), Jaxson Robinson (12 points) and Koby Brea and Andrew Carr with 10 each.

Chucky Hepburn scored a team-high 26 points for the Cardinals, and Terrence Edwards Jr. added 23.

Kentucky made its first five 3-point attempts and went 11 for 21 from deep.

The Cardinals, playing shorthanded after a slew of injuries, fell to 6-5 on the season and lost for the fourth time in their last five games.

UK is now 10-1 in Pope’s first season as head coach.

Kentucky’s next game

Finals week is coming up for UK, and the Wildcats will be free of games until next weekend, when they’ll face Ohio State on Saturday in the CBS Sports Classic in Madison Square Garden in New York.

The Buckeyes (6-4) began the season with a win over then-No. 19 Texas and started with a 5-1 record, but they’ve lost three of their last four games, including a 91-53 rout at the hands of No. 2 Auburn in Atlanta earlier in the day Saturday.

Ohio State began the week as a No. 9 seed in ESPN’s latest Bracketology. (UK is a No. 2 seed on that board.) The Buckeyes also began the day at No. 28 in the KenPom ratings, with the nation’s No. 21 rating in offensive efficiency and No. 38 spot in defensive efficiency.

OSU will play Valparaiso on Tuesday night ahead of next weekend’s game against Kentucky, which leads the all-time series 11-10 but has lost two straight meetings with the Buckeyes.