Mark Pope Hopes Lamont Butler is Back ASAP

Lamont Butler encouraged UK fans to make even more noise Wednesday night. (Vicky Graff Photo)

After rallying from an 18-point deficit in the first half to beat Gonzaga in overtime in Seattle Saturday, Kentucky came back to Rupp Arena, raced to a 17-0 lead over Gonzaga to start Wednesday’s game and then found itself behind early in the second half.

Even though Kentucky pulled away to beat Colgate, coach Mark Pope admitted after the game not having his top two point guards led to some different lineup combinations that probably contributed to UK blowing the 17-0 lead.

Starting point guard Lamont Butler has missed the last two games with a sprained ankle. Backup Kerr Kriisa broke a bone in his foot at Gonzaga and no date has been set for his return.

“Lamont is getting a little bit better. Every day we test him a little more and see,” Pope said after Wednesday’s win. “We will know more tomorrow morning when he wakes up about how he’s feeling. It’s kind of a throw it out there today (in practice) and see what we end up with when he wakes up.

“We will know a little bit more and I would prefer he re-joins our team on the floor sometime soon.”

That’s especially true since Kentucky will host Louisville Saturday night.

What about Kriisa?

“We have the best performance team ever.  Kerr has already had the surgery and we are kind of like it’s in this, Vegas would say, somewhere around the six week period. I’m saying like 10 days, we will see how it goes,” Pope said. “That’s kind of the prognosis on his injury.”

As much as UK misses Kriisa’s floor play, Pope says the Cats miss his energy even more.

“ Kerr might bring more energy to the team on the bench actually. He’s going to have to grow into this. I don’t know if he has sat like this ever before,” Pope said.  “He can be an incredibly valuable piece of this team right now.  We need him, that’s really important.  He’s an important part for us.

“ If you think about Kerr sitting on the bench all game not talking smack.  It’s going to be – heaven help us.”

With both Butler and Kriisa out Wednesday, that gave guard Koby Brea, the nation’s top 3-point shooter, his first start at Kentucky.

“Koby is such a vet and we didn’t have any conversation with him. We just put him in a blue jersey and practice and it was off to the races.  Koby could start the rest of the season. We are very malleable and fluid that way and listening to what the game tells us,” Pope said after Brea his five 3-pointers and scored 17 points. “I thought Koby obviously shot the ball pretty well tonight.  I guess pretty well, it’s just his normal.

“He came up with a couple of huge rebounds again and was better in the second half defensively and in the last 10 minutes.  He was getting really good getting downhill to the rim and I thought he’s making strides.  He’s got so much more that he’s going to explore and get comfortable with about getting downhill. He’s a terrific, terrific talent. He’s a big-time player. He’s probably the best shooter in the country.”