Lamont Butler on Kentucky backcourt: ‘We can really shoot the lights out’

As Kentucky installs all new everything under Mark Pope, shooting is going to be an important factor overall for the Wildcat offense. That’s why the program recruited several players in that can knock down the long ball to be a part of this debut roster in Lexington.

Lamont Butler spoke about the backcourt he’ll be a part of during a summer interview with the media earlier this week. He says he likes the collection they have together, especially with them being able to shoot it as well as they all can from three.

“Yeah, nah – we’ve got a great group,” said Butler. “The backcourt is amazing.”

“We can shoot the lights out of the ball,” Butler said. “I think it’s going to be really tough to beat us.”

Kentucky added five guards out of the transfer portal in Butler along with Jaxson Robinson, Koby Brea, Kerr Kriisa, and Otega Oweh. The five of them combined have shot 36.7% from three during their respective collegiate careers. Brea leads that at 43.4% after shooting 49.8% on three threes a game as the nation’s leading shooter behind the line last season. Kriisa is also efficient with the highest average of makes per game at 2.4 with him being tied for the second-highest clip of the five at 36.8%.

That’s not to mention the Wildcat freshmen with shooting prowess of their own. That most notably includes Travis Perry, the state’s top recruit and all-time leading scorer, who has been making headlines in summer workouts with how he has filled it up.

Shooting? Check. Kentucky expects to have that and more from their guard play.

Now, for them and the rest of the roster in general, it’s about continuing their progression together so that their play, specifically offensively, is as fine-tuned as they want it to be.

“Just seeing it right now, I think it’s forming well. Like you said, we have a veteran group so we’re learning quick and gelling quick. So just trying to continue to get that team chemistry down,” said Butler. “It’s going at a fast pace right now, learning all the new stuff that Coach Pope, you know, is trying to instill in us.”

“We’ve been playing very well and I’m excited for it.”

Ansley Almonor on Kentucky’s shooting: ‘It’s not just on paper’

Kentucky shot 40.8% from beyond the arc last season, the highest percentage in the country. Although the program has a new head coach, the ‘Cats are still putting an emphasis on their perimeter shooting.

“It’s not just on paper. It’s in real life too. We really got a lot of shooters. That’s something (Coach Pope) emphasizes every day in practice,” Ansley Almonor said. “He makes everybody take a lot of threes, lot of shots, make sure we’re perfecting our craft. That’s something he emphasizes a lot as a key to how we’re gonna play this year, how we’re gonna beat teams. We’re gonna take a lot of threes and we’re gonna make a lot of threes.”

Of the dozen overall scholarship players on the 2024-25 roster, only three of them have shot under 34% from deep throughout their college careers.

• Koby Brea: 43.3%
• Trent Noah: 43% (2023-24 at Harlan County)
• Travis Perry: 41.7% (2023-24 at Lyon County)
• Ansley Almonor: 38.5%
• Collin Chandler: 37% (2019-22 at Farmington)
• Kerr Kriisa: 36.8%
• Otega Oweh: 36.8%
• Andrew Carr: 34.4%
• Jaxson Robinson: 34.3%
• Lamont Butler: 32.1%
• Amari Williams: 30.8%
• Brandon Garrison: N/A

Kentucky’s surplus of shooting fits perfectly with Pope’s offensive schemes. At BYU last season, the Cougars ranked second in all of college basketball in three-pointers attempted at 32 per game. They then hit those looks at a 34.8% rate.