Lamont Butler's defense sits near the top of oppossing team scouting reports

When opposing teams prepare to play Kentucky this season, they’ll spend plenty of time focusing on Mark Pope‘s fast-paced offense. They’ll look to slow down the Wildcats in transition, cover the many outside shooters spreading out to the perimeter, and prevent quick passes from creating too much movement.

But one of the very next thing things those teams will talk about right after (if not before) is the defensive prowess of Lamont Butler.

“I played against him the last two years at BYU,” Kentucky guard Jaxson Robinson said of his new teammate at SEC Media Days last week. “On the scouting report it was keep the ball away from Lamont Butler as much as you could. Because he’s just a pest defensively.”

You likely know of Butler’s accolades by now. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound point guard was named Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year by the media as a junior in 2022-23. The next season, he earned Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year honors from the league’s coaches. He made a Mountain West All-Defensive Team as a sophomore, junior, and senior. That stellar reputation has followed him to Lexington.

Butler typically defends the opposing team’s best ball handler, so he wasn’t matched up all that often against Robinson when the two played each other over the years. At 6-foot-6, Robinson plays more off the ball as a shooter, so he wasn’t Butler’s primary responsibility in those outings. However, he’s experienced Butler’s defensive skills firsthand all summer long.

“Lamont Butler is a great defensive player and someone you want on your team,” Robinson said. “And I’m also tired of having Lamont Butler guard me every day in practice, 94 feet.“

Kentucky’s high-powered, free-flowing offense will draw in the eyes of college basketball fans, but producing an above-average defense is what will turn this group into a potential Final Four contender. Butler and center Amari Williams (who has three CAA Defensive Player of the Year awards to his name) create the nucleus of a good defensive unit. It’ll be up to everyone around them to make it great.

“I think we’re gonna be really good defensively,” Butler said at SEC Media Days. “Me, Amari, I feel like we’re the top defenders on the team and we’re kind of like the head of the snake defensively. I think communication is gonna be big for us. And then playing with heart. I feel everybody on the team competes at a high level so defensively we’re gonna be fine. If we guard at a high level, it’s gonna be hard to beat us.”

We’ll get our first taste of what that will look like later this week. Kentucky hosts Kentucky Wesleyan on Wednesday night at Rupp Arena in the first of two exhibition games. Make sure to keep a close eye on Butler’s defense.