How Chucky Hepburn's defense allowed Lamont Butler to hit six 3s vs. Louisville

Louisville guard Chucky Hepburn is among the nation’s top backcourt players, but he’s especially talented on the defensive end of the floor. His three steals per game rank fourth-best in all of Divison I hoops. It’s not all about forcing turnovers though. EvanMiya considers Hepburn a Top 100 defender. He was hounding Kentucky’s guards all game during the Wildcats’ win this past Saturday.

And yet, his style of defense actually helped Lamont Butler light up the Cardinals from deep.

Butler dropped a career-high 33 points against Louisville, making all 10 of his shot attempts. He was also 6-6 from deep, taking full advantage of the open looks he was given. Louisville dared him to shoot and he connected on all six shots, every single one coming without a defender in his vicinity.

Hepburn was doing everything he could to make a defensive impact, but he was almost doing too much on that end as he tried to cover too many bases at the same time.

“It’s a little bit of a unique scenario in terms of Chucky causes so much trouble,” Kentucky head coach Mark Pope said during his Wednesday press conference. “He’s one of the leading steals guys in the country, and he causes so much trouble mucking up the game. Lamont did an unbelievable job taking what the defense was affording him.

“Chucky, what he does, he’s such a great rover, and he’s got such great instincts, and Lamont was just like, ‘Hey, if you’re going to go do that, I’m going to punish you right now.’ And that’s the way the game is supposed to work, right? That was the most important thing it did. As the game wore on, you kind of saw Chucky taking less risk, and we were able to function. The rest of our offense was able to function a little bit more securely, knowing that Chucky wasn’t lurking around every corner, right? They had to pay attention.”

Hepburn was certainly a pain in Kentucky’s side during that rivalry showdown at Rupp Arena. He finished with 26 points, five rebounds, and five assists (with just one steal) before fouling out late. But Pope and his staff created ways to try and keep the ball away from Hepburn when he was on defense. A lot of it was passing around him. Kentucky recorded 23 assists on 32 made baskets for an assist percentage of 71.9, the team’s second-highest mark of the season.

With Hepburn roaming the floor and trying to bite off maybe more than he could chew, it freed Butler up from deep. Once Hepburn began to dial that back a bit, it allowed Kentucky to get back to its usual offense. The credit goes to Butler though for making his shots. Louisville likely didn’t expect him to keep knocking them down. He’s only a 33.3 percent outside shooter for his career. If he missed a couple early, the entire flow of the game could have changed. Hepburn could have continued to roam free and cause issues.

But Butler hit them all, and Kentucky came out with the win because of it.