Vicky Graff Photo
The best part — and best is a tricky word to use after a 94-78 loss — of Saturday’s game against Auburn for Kentucky coach Mark Pope was not another double-double by Amari Williams or four 3-pointers and 21 points from Koby Brea or even 20 points in 28 minutes from Andrew Carr.
Instead, it was point guard Lamont Butler. He had 15 points but he was also 4-for-13 from the field and had five turnovers. However, he did play 32 minutes that were apparently pain-free (for the most part) despite still having a brace on his left shoulder.
“Yeah, the best thing about tonight was Lamont got through the game. That’s the best thing. Every game and play he gets through is better. He got beat up on some screens and he still made it out alive,” Pope said.
“I thought he was probably our brightest spot tonight in terms of his ability to get down and get to two feet and make plays and have a little bit of defensive presence. He was probably the best thing for us.
“Like I said, every play he gets through is really positive because he’s on his way back. He’s got two more games to really get to the elite level that he’s played at for most of the season (before the SEC Tournament starts). I’m really happy he’s making progress.”
Kentucky is not nearly as good when Butler doesn’t play even though it has several signature wins not playing. However, with Jaxson Robinson now out for the rest of the year, Kentucky desperately needs Butler healthy.
“I feel good right now. Tough game, we didn’t execute a lot of things that we wanted to,” Butler said after the game. “They kind of took a lot of things away, and then we couldn’t get to the next thing, which led to a bunch of turnovers and defensively we weren’t giving the effort.
“I feel good coming out of this game with my shoulder and everything. So all we can do is prevent it from here.”
Even with Butler in the lineup, Auburn’s switching defense created havoc for UK’s normally smooth flowing offense.
“Right now, they are the best team in the country. They punished us tonight, for sure,” Pope said. “It’s a real credit to their guys, to their players, and a real credit to coach (Bruce) Pearl and their staff because they do a lot of switching on the fly. There is a lot of communication on the fly.
“There were only small moments in the game where we were able to take advantage of that and they communicate so well together and they have so much makeup ability that it makes it really difficult. They also play with tremendous energy. They have a length. They are playing elite level basketball. So just a ton of credit to those guys.”
5 Responses
Butler, Carr, Robinson – all victims of a brutal non-basketball method of thug teams just pounding on players & getting by with it.
Football is for major contact. BB is not meant to be a thug fest, but the ncaa and especially the SEC has forsake the real rules which made BB an elite sport for talented players into a back alley fight. Tucking the ball under an arm and knocking players down to run to the basket without dribbling in a proper manner,, injuring players by grabbing them and literally beating them is NOT BB.
The great players – the Big “O” & Wilt Chamberlain, the defensive warriors Bill Russell & others did not have to play out of control to score, pass, block shots or defend in the open court.
The college game is gone. Players jump ship over & over,, never learn to master the fundamentals of dribbling (without carrying the ball), passing, faking, blocking without fouling. And now big dollars for a multitude of players whose mentality is yo fight rather than play real BB – it will never be the same.
College BB (& FB) need a major overhaul to bring the sport back to the original way it was played until decades ago. It’s similar to DC and a lot fo the USA which was in a serious decline with cities being burned and tax money stolen to promote non-human activity (loss of identity of make & female). But NOW it is in the process of being cleaned up and corruption exposed! There is hope, so even college sports may have a day of reckoning when swamp-style leaders & players are culled in a major clean-up campaign.
In the meantime, it’s going to just get worse if no one is held accountable.
I agree 100% Basketball is a game of grace. Instead of skinny athletes now teams want big physical guys who can bang bodies for 2 hours. That’s not basketball. Offensive fouls are called only when the ref "wants" to call it and not when it really happens. Bro I even question the referees. They call fouls when guys aren’t even touched and then when a player gets knocked out there is no foul called. Its making me think Vegas is taking over college sports too. I don’t know if that’s a stretch of the imagination of mine. But sometimes it seems like Vegas knows to much. They have absolutely taken over the NFL which I don’t watch anymore. Even tho I’m a Bengals fan I don’t watch the games. Calls are unbelievable. My high school coach told me there is a hold on every play in football. Doesn’t it seem weird that every single time we had a big play it was called back for holding even if it was on the other side of the field and didn’t effect the play? Like I said Vegas has a tight grip on these refs or something. Its bogging down sports. Anyways why hasn’t Almonor been playing as much? It doesn’t make sense he was actually a spark off the bench for us. I feel bad for the man. He could have stayed at his old school and been averaging probably over 20 ppg. He came here to ride the pine? There is no way I’m the world I would do that. Not for Kentucky not for Duke not for anybody. Pope is a good coach and is doing great for coming to Kentucky so late in the recruiting period. This year is a warm-up year. We will see what’s he is really made of in the next 2 years. I would have rather gotten Pitino for 3-4 years than Pope and let Pope get more power 5 experience. Sometimes I think he’s to soft on his players and the players are a reflection of the coach and we have a soft team. Ricky P should get coach of the year! I also like Kelsey and Pope better start worrying about little brother because in both football and basketball they are getting much better and we are falling off a cliff. Yes the ACC sucks now. Its not as strong as it used to be and the SEC is the best conference in football and basketball. So now is the time to start winning or we are going to be a rug mat for other teams going forward. Let me ask you this? Why do we have so many injuries in both football and basketball and its always the better guys on the team? They are hurt but can jump up and down on the bench and do high fives and do the moonwalk but can’t play in the game because a tweaked fingernail? Kentucky has gotten soft. Lets just be honest. Pope might be too nice. Stoops might be too drunk idk. I do think we are better in both sports next year. Pope has a excuse he just got here and Stoops has this year to win or go home. I honestly think the best hire was Brooks the women’s coach. But I hardly ever watch women’s sports. When someone plays bad the coach needs to say hey you played terrible you need to step your game up. Not get a pat on the back and say thanks for playing and not getting hurt. Butler played terrible and when he does it because of a injury and when he don’t he feels better? Wtf! He plays full court man to man so your gonna catch some nasty screens but dude I’ve seen him get hurt 3-4 times in one game! Don’t start the man to man until the guy breaks the half court line. Its simple. He will know we’re the screener is coming from. Its really common sense. Also why don’t we ever play a 2-3 zone? Most teams in the SEC suck at 3 pointers its a more physical conference so why not run a freakin 2-3 zone? Or a 1-2-2 zone with the point guard playing man to man? Pur defense sucks. We need to change it up. I would play Perry and Noah and sit Butler out until he’s 100%. He sits out 2 games comes back and injuries himself again. Its stupid really. I watch alot of west coast basketball and I watched him last year play alot and he didn’t shoot nearly as much he was more of a pass first point guard then he comes here and starts trying to drive to the basket out of control and just throw up some junk. He has completely changed his game. Pope needs to have a one on one with him and tell him he needs to get the offense flowing.. Yes we have injuries and yes Robinson was one of our best scorers but we need to change some shit up and fast. I see us being a 5-6 seed in the tournament. Winning the first game and probably losing the second game. I say we have a 50/50 shot at the sweet 16 but that’s we’re out season ends. We are not a top 15 team anymore. I’d say were top 30 team somewhere in the 23-28 range. Our 3 point shooting is terrible. Remember at the beginning of the year Brea couldn’t miss Robinson was hitting 3s from well past NBA range and Butler was a menace on the opposing team along with Oweh. Oweh is a great player but someone needs to teach him that you can shoot a 10-15 foot jumper. He’s not a good 3 point shooter but he’s good about 12 feet from the basket. If he would drive and stop and pull up around the free throw line and shoot the ball he would score alot more point. With this team its either layups or 3s there is nothing in between. You have to make jump shots. Carr needs to shoot more jump shots not 3 pointers. Butler is great at jump shots but not 3 pointers, but we never shoot jump shots I just don’t understand it. This year is basically over. No way we even smell the final 4. I’d be happy with the elite 8 in Popes first year but I just don’t see it. Even at BYU he had a good seed in last years tournament and lost in the first round because the 3 pointers weren’t falling. I see the same thing happening again this year because when are 3s aren’t falling we could lose to Western Kentucky. The difference between the beginning of the season and now is we forgot our identity. Tough defense and a assist on almost every basket now the guys are going crazy and it seems like everyone for themself and that’s not going to work. Don’t play Butler until he says yes I’m 100%. I’m so tired after every loss its oh Butlers shoulder hurts but when we win its all smiles and high fives. Is hogwash. . Pope said Butlers agent said he’s not 100%. Isn’t that wild college kids having agents. That’s just someone else in there ear telling them stuff to do to increase there pockets. The agent probably tells him shoot it more score more points. Guys already have there Family and friends telling them they are like Michael Jordan so now they have agents controlling there money and telling them what to do. Who are you going to listen to your coach who makes you 0$ or your agent who controls your money??? Something is off!
You have thoroughly nailed it. Gambling is definitely a factor in some games and just plain old hatred is a factor in many games.
I remember Shaq getting hammered svery trip down the floor but the whistle was silent. It was so obvious and the way UK has been hammered this season is just pathetic.
Yes, you have thoroughly nailed it. All of your key points are spot on. Coach and team are both too soft and the players have apparently taken on the demeanor of the coach. Almodor made the comment tonight that the coach was good at "skills development" Are you kidding me…very little evidence YTD. We have been too 3 pt based and were supposed to be one of the better 3 pt teams in the country…how has that worked out? I am also thinking we might have to be satisfied if we make final 32. I do not see us in Sweet 16 but would love to be proven wrong. I like coach very much as a quality guy and a blue blooded dude but think his coaching skills are yet to be determined. I think there are several other coaches that may be better within the SEC and 1 within the state as well.
The picture that accompanies your article is very telling. On that exact play, Lamont had 4 defender hands on him as he drove for the basket, was himself knocked down but instead of drawing the whistle and foul shots, was himmself was called for a Flagrant foul. Just atrocious.