Big Blue Preview: Kentucky vs. Tennessee
On Tuesday night, Kentucky and Tennessee will meet for the second time in two weeks, although this game will have one notable addition – UK point guard Lamont Butler.
When the Cats beat the Vols 78-73 on Jan. 28, Butler missed the game with a shoulder injury. With Jaxson Robinson running the point, Kentucky hit 12 of 24 from three-point range on its way to winning in Knoxville.
Butler returned to action on Saturday in UK’s 80-57 win over South Carolina. He admits that the shoulder still bothers him a bit, but he’s ready to face Tennessee on Tuesday.
“It’s feeling alright,” Butler said on Monday. “I’m ready to go for this game tomorrow.”
Being the competitor he is, Butler hated to miss three games of action. However, he was able to see the game from a different perspective.
“It was tough,” Butler said. “I wanted to be out there with the guys, competing with them, especially on the road because we know how tough it is on the road. I was excited to see how they battled and how hard they played.”
From the sidelines, Butler was able to observe some of the things that the Cats could have done better.
“I think, the games that we lost, we needed to step up defensively,” Butler said. “I think we didn’t have the edge we usually play with. We just have to bring a better effort. I think it’s my job to come in and bring the effort and the energy on that end. I think we weren’t giving multiple efforts on plays. We would guard for 15 or 20 seconds well and then we have a breakdown in the last 10 seconds.”
Butler will now get his first taste of the Kentucky-Tennessee rivalry on the court. He’s looking forward to helping the Cats hold serve at home.
“I’m excited. I know it’s a rivalry between Kentucky and Tennessee,” Butler said. “The last game, we got them at their place so (now) we’ve got to protect our home court. Our job is to protect home court.”
The Cats will be looking for a regular season sweep of the Vols on Tuesday night. Having Butler back in the lineup should help with those efforts.
Kentucky Rolls Past South Carolina
Otega Oweh scored 15 of his game-high 17 points in the second half, while Brandon Garrison contributed a season-best 15 points as Kentucky earned a 23-point win over South Carolina on Saturday, 80-57.
UK dominated the Gamecocks in bench points (36-4) and points in the paint (44-26) to stop a two-game skid and get back to .500 in SEC play.
The Wildcats overcame a slow offensive start and finished the first half on a 12-1 run to bring a 33-19 advantage to the break.
UK upped its offensive production in half number two, shooting 56.7 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes to seal away what was the team’s largest margin of victory in an SEC game this season.
Some additional notes from the game:
• Kentucky limited South Carolina to 57 points and 32.8 percent shooting, the Wildcats’ best defensive marks this season in an SEC game
• Koby Brea had a career-high six assists in the game and also tallied 10 points
• Point guard Lamont Butler returned to action after a three game absence, scoring eight points and adding three assists in 23 minutes
• South Carolina’s 19 points and 23.5 shooting percentage in the first half were UK’s best defensive marks for one half this season
• UK posted its best free-throw performance of the season (12-13, 92.3%)
• Kentucky led by as many as 26 points in the win
Three Wildcats on Midseason Watch Lists
Three Wildcats, Lamont Butler, Otega Oweh and Jaxson Robinson are on various midseason watch lists following stellar starts to the season.
Butler and Oweh are both on the USBWA Oscar Robertson Trophy Midseason Watch List. Butler is also on the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Top 15 list, while he was also picked as a midseason second-team All-American by The Sporting News.
Robinson was selected to the top 10 midseason list of the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year list.
Butler has proven to be one of UK’s most important players this season. He was the USBWA National Player of the Week after pouring in 33 points in the win over Louisville.
Defensively, he is leading the team with 1.7 steals per game. UK is 13-5 with him on the court and is yielding 74.7 points per game, a 41.2% field-goal clip and a 28.8% 3-point rate to its opponents. In the five games he has missed, UK is 3-2 and giving up 83.2 points per game, 45.9% from the field and 33.8% from 3-point range.
Oweh is UK’s leading scorer at 16.0 points per game. He has topped double figures in all 23 games and is the only player in the SEC to achieve the feat. Oweh is best after the break, logging a team-best 10.2 points per game after halftime.
Robinson has been UK’s steady leader during SEC action. He is posting 15.1 points per game and shooting 47.4% from distance against league foes.
