Butler returns from injury for a careerhigh 33 points to lead Kentucky to a 9385 win over Louisville
Dec 14, 2024
Kentucky got Lamont Butler back for the Louisville rivalry game and he scored 33 points to help lead Kentucky to a 93-85 win over the Cardinals. That's three in a row for UK and ten of the last twelve.Louisville took a 3-2 lead on a Chucky Hepburn three pointer and then never led again. The Wildcats extended the lead with two Andrew Carr free throws and back-to-back three's from Jaxson Robinson and Lamont Butler. The Wildcats took a 14-5 lead.The lead would flucuate for most of the first half. Louisville fought back to get it to five on a James Scott dunk. The Wildcats lead was down to 19-14. The Wildcats extended it as Otega Oweh got a slam to finish a fast break and UK would be back in front double digits at 28-16. The Cardinals would cut it to within 4 on a couple of occasions in the first half. The final one coming when Chucky Hepburn knocked down a three with 1:19 to go before the break. However, Butler would get a lay-up to go before the buzzer sounded. UK would take a 46-40 lead into halftime.Butler started the second half by hitting three straight three pointers on as many attempts. Then, a wild scramble for the ball ended up in the hands of Brandon Garrison who slammed it home to extend Kentucky's lead back to double digits, 57-47.Louisville got within 3 after a wide open three pointer from Chucky Hepburn made it 64-61. But UK responded with a tough three pointer by Koby Brea to push the lead back out to 67-61. That was followed by a Carr dunk and an Oweh layup to get the lead back to double digits at 71-61.Lamont Butler knocked down his 10th shot in as many attempts including six three pointers to get to 30 points to give Kentucky a 77-67 lead.Then came the newest moment in the UK-U of L rivalry. The Cardinals Ryene Smith dove on the ball for a loose ball in front of his own bench. He was fouled by UK's Brandon Garrison who then fell into the Cards bench and some words were exchanged but no technicals were assessed.There were no points scored for more than a two minute stretch to the under four minute timeout. Louisville had cut it to 79-74. After a lot of empty possessions, UK's Oweh got a steal and slam to give the Cats an 81-74 advantage. After another Louisville score, Oweh knocked down a three to put UK up 86-76 but Noah Watermanhit his own three to cut it to 86-79 with :52 to go.Butler went a perfect 10-10 from the field and 6-6 behind the three point line for 33 points and added a team-high 6 assists. Oweh had 17, Robinson 12 while Carr and Koby Brea added 10 each.Kentucky plays next Saturday at Madison Square Garden for the CBS Sports Classic against Ohio State. Tip off is set for 5:30.