Lamont Butler returns, and Kentucky gets a win. Cats beat South Carolina by 23 points.

Ben Roberts, Lexington Herald-Leader on Feb 8, 2025

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky needed that one.

The 14th-ranked Wildcats defeated South Carolina 80-57 on Saturday afternoon in Rupp Arena, avoiding a third consecutive loss on their home court amid a skid that saw UK lose four of its previous five games.

Starting point Lamont Butler made his much-anticipated return to the court after being sidelined for two weeks with a shoulder injury. He started for the Cats and had eight points, three assists, three turnovers and a steal in 23 minutes.

Otega Oweh led the Wildcats with 17 points, continuing his streak of hitting double figures in scoring in all 23 of his games as a UK player so far.

Brandon Garrison had his best scoring game as a Kentucky player, with 15 points off the bench. Koby Brea tallied 10 points, five rebounds and a career-high six assists off the bench. Amari Williams added 10 points and six rebounds.

UK trailed in the early going before unleashing an 11-0 run — with eight of those points coming courtesy of Brea — midway through the first half. The Cats had a 19-11 lead by the end of that stretch, and South Carolina never pulled even again.

The Wildcats came into the game ranked No. 108 nationally — and last in the SEC, by a wide margin — in defensive efficiency, according to the KenPom ratings. They had surrendered an average of 86.3 points per game over their previous nine SEC games.

On Saturday, South Carolina had just 19 points at halftime and shot 23.5% from the field in the first half. The Gamecocks’ 57 points were just three more than the season low for a UK opponent, which came in the Cats’ 88-54 win over Brown in the final game on the nonconference schedule.

Kentucky improved to 16-7 on the season and got back to .500 in the conference. UK is now 5-5 in the SEC standings. The Cats lost at Ole Miss on Tuesday night and dropped a home game to John Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks three days before that.

They also had a home loss to Alabama and a road defeat at Vanderbilt to start this skid, with an upset victory over now-No. 4 Tennessee in Knoxville sandwiched in between the two sets of losses.

Butler — referred to by coach Mark Pope as the “heart and soul” of the Wildcats — was either sidelined or limited for that entire five-game stretch after suffering a shoulder injury in a victory over Texas A&M on Jan. 14.

The fifth-year guard missed UK’s previous three games and was listed as “questionable” to play against South Carolina, but he was the first Wildcat on the court for pregame warmups and returned to the starting lineup against the Gamecocks.

Jaxson Robinson — the team’s de facto point guard with Butler and Kerr Kriisa sidelined — was also listed as questionable for Saturday’s game after suffering an injury to his right wrist during practice Friday, but he also started, as usual. Kriisa remains sidelined with a foot injury.

South Carolina (10-13, 0-10 in the SEC) remains the only winless team in the conference, but the Gamecocks came into the day with a top-50 defense nationally and a long list of games in which they nearly beat some of the league’s top teams. South Carolina has had close losses to No. 1 Auburn, No. 6 Florida, No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 22 Mississippi State and Vanderbilt in recent weeks.

Kentucky will be back in Rupp Arena on Tuesday night for a rematch with No. 4 Tennessee.

UK won that game without Butler, Kriisa and with Carr playing less than 90 seconds. Since then, the Volunteers have gone on to beat No. 6 Florida by 20 points (without star guard Zakai Zeigler), and defeated No. 15 Missouri and Oklahoma this week.

Tennessee is now 20-4 overall and 7-4 in the SEC. The game is set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.

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