On Saturday, the No. 14 Wildcats plowed South Carolina 80-57 to improve to 5-5 in SEC play.
Arguably, more importantly, Big Blue Nation welcomed back guard Lamont Butler in their home victory. Butler had missed the Wildcats’ last three games. In that three game stretch, Kentucky went 1-2 with double digit losses, sneaking a narrow win over the No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers.
“This (win) is really important to us,” Pope said. “Every game is the biggest game we’ve ever played, but as long as you go through the course of the season.”
In Butler’s absence, minutes had been rationed to Koby Brea and Ansley Almonor, both of whom opened the season coming off the bench as traditional role players, but have made starts with Butler’s injury and forward Andrew Carr’s lingering back troubles.
Additionally, Kentucky has been without its backup point guard Kerr Kriisa since December.
“(What’s) really important is the fact that Lamont can get on the floor,” Pope said. “I’m going to tease Lamont about his first layup at the rim… it was really shaky, but that’s what happens when you haven’t dribbled the ball for three weeks, but he was terrific.”
Despite a rocky first half, Butler was able to shed his scoreless 0-2 start to put up eight points and three assists while attacking the rim and getting to the free throw line. The former Arkansas Razorback shot 4-5 on the stripe.
Defensively, the Wildcats contained South Carolina by holding their opponents 32% shooting from the field, and Butler collected one of Kentucky’s four steals.
“It’s another defensive presence out there… I mean it’s huge for us,” forward Otega Oweh said. “He calms down the offense, he uplifts the pace, uplifts the tempo and then on defense, he’s a dog.”
Moving forward, Kentucky couldn’t have asked for a more opportune time to have Butler return to the floor with four of its next eight opponents being ranked. Including three of the four ranked teams being top-five matchups.
“We missed him, you can tell out there, so having him back there, I feel like it’s a good thing,” forward Brandon Garrison said. “And it helps our team out a lot.”
Kentucky will be back in action against No. 5 Tennessee on Tuesday, Feb. 11, inside Rupp Arena. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be aired live on ESPN.