What a thrilling end to a thrilling game! It was a seesaw battle between Kentucky and Florida, the No. 10 ranked team ultimately beating No. 6. Mark Pope was utterly delighted by the end of it, declaring to the press room upon arrival that if someone didn’t have fun that night, they should quit and find a new job. And why wouldn’t the coach be celebrating? Not only did the Wildcats finally find their offensive footing but Kentucky’s top transfer also shone.

Who else but Lamont Butler?! Initially, Butler had declared for the draft on April 5 while keeping his remaining college eligibility intact. Not only this, he also chose to enter the transfer portal after dedicating his four years to San Diego State. And then came April 27, when it was announced that he had committed to Pope’s Kentucky.

Moving on, in a recent episode of The Field of 68: After Dark, Jeff Goodman discusses the former San Diego State guard, who was a dominant defensive presence and, as usual, the right player to help in the clutch. “Lot of weapons, a lot of weapons on this Kentucky team. I’ll say this – the most underrated transfer addition in the country was Lamont Butler. Clearly, clearly,” Goodman praised him.

He added, “He just does everything. He has a calm demeanor to him. He doesn’t get rattled, he makes all the right (moves), he’s an elite defender.” Giving the example of Alijah Martin, who was making some tough shots for Florida, Goodman pointed out how putting Butler on him made the Gators player put on the brakes. But then again, how many could Butler cover by himself?

“Florida’s got a lot of dudes, so who do you put Lamont Butler on? You can’t put him on everybody,” Goodman says, “But ultimately he’s an elite defender, he’s the guy who stirs all the drink here and makes all the right decisions and isn’t about himself. But he’s a much better offensive player than we gave him credit for over at San Diego State.”

Butler had a bit of a slow start, like most of the rest of his team. Kentucky was not as dominant in the first half as they were in the second. With two minutes left in the first half, Butler had not yet made a basket after his first two shots missed. But then the guard help improve the Wildcats’ score from 45-40 to 52-42 at halftime.

But if you ask the player himself, he doesn’t want to stand out alone but rather make it a team effort.

Mark Pope’s array of stars in Kentucky

It was a battle of rebounds and threes, and Mark Pope was proud of how his guys did not give in to the ‘battle,’ as he called it. It was more of a physical game where, aside from Lamont Butler, Koby Brea and Amari Williams were the stars of the show. Brea led the Cats with 7 three-pointers and 23 points overall, and even Butler was impressed.

“I think Koby deserves —he was hot tonight,” he said after the game. “But it was a great effort from everyone. I try to do my part. At the end of the game, it was just a winning mentality.”

Butler further added, “The guards that they have are big-time, really good guards. They score at a high rate, and they did that tonight. I just try to go out there and make it difficult and impossible. We got that win—that’s all that matters.”

The Kentucky Wildcats are now 12-2 on the season and have claimed their third top-10 win of the season. As for Mark Pope, the head coach revealed his disappointment after the game that they only get 17 more of these games before the season ends. It was certainly one of the best games of the season and fans can only hope the momentum continues!