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Kentucky beat Oklahoma Thursday/Friday in Nashville to advance to tonight’s SEC Tournament quarterfinals against Alabama but had to do so without point guard Lamont Butler.
He played only eight minutes before he left the court, sat on the bench briefly and then headed to the dressing room. He returned for the second half but did not play.
Butler had been out with a left shoulder injury until returning to the lineup when UK won at Oklahoma in late February but now it looks like the veteran could be sidelined again with the same issue.
Here is what Kentucky coach Mark Pope said after the game about Butler:
Q. Any update on Lamont?
MARK POPE: Yeah, so we did some imaging at halftime, some manual testing. We’ll know more probably by tomorrow. We’ll know a little more.
Q. With Lamont, what is the decision-making going into a situation like that when it is a game every day, knowing the NCAA tournament is next week? Do you approach that differently if it were a Tuesday/Saturday game in the regular season?
MARK POPE: I mean, you go through so many emotions. It’s hard to explain. I was really proud of our guys and our team because your heart is just breaking for Lamont. We already have Jack sitting over there. Now Lamont misses the opportunity to be a part of this. It is devastating. It’s devastating, guys, for him.
It’s like a gut punch. You’re dealing with that emotion but trying to put it away so you can stay focused on the game. Our guys did an unbelievable job of doing that.
We’ll put it together piece by piece. I’m praying like crazy, I will be, that he can find his way back on the floor some point this year. It just doesn’t seem fair. This is not a fair game. I’m not saying that, but man, I would like so badly for him to be able to step on a court again. We’ll see how it goes.
Q. One more Butler question. What consideration might you have even if he is able to play tomorrow or just shutting him down and seeing if he can get healthier in a week?
MARK POPE: I mean, I’m not going to put him in harm’s way for sure. It’s hard ’cause this matters. Like, it’s hard to explain. When you walk into this arena and you finish a game like that, and the whole game you see all these people. These Kentucky fans, it’s an arena full of Kentucky fans. Most of these Kentucky fans probably have never been able to go watch a game at Rupp Arena because they can’t get in.
They save and plan for a year to come here and do this. I know that sounds unique, and it is really unique. So there’s just this massive pull of our guys. This is our family, we want to take care of them, we want to perform for them. We want this to be great and special for them. You’re also thinking about the NCAA tournament.
This is real for us. This matters for us. The NCAA tournament obviously matters for us. We’ll just figure it out the best we can. We’ll make the best decisions for Lamont that we can, for sure.
One Response
Coach Pope, you can’t be the kids best friend and coach at the same time. You have to demand more in conditioning, practice, and on the floor. It’s ok to be positive, but encouraging has to change to being demanding. You have to push kids to be more than they are comfortable being as a player and as a team. Forget about recruiting altar boys; go out and find some assassins. With NIL and the transfer portal, you will no longer have kids to coach for 4 years; they will either go pro after 2 years or move on to another team where they get more PT and more money. If any do stay longer than 2 years it’s because nobody else wants them. Our freshmen simply did not perform to the level of other elite freshmen in the conference and across the country. If you are not recruiting the best, you have to coach them up to be the best. The kids won’t like it if they can’t step up to the challenge but this is what most of the better teams are doing now.