Mark Pope praises Lamont Butler's 'stunning' ability to protect his shoulder during games

During his weekly radio show Monday night, Mark Pope joked that Lamont Butler “might have come out of the womb in a stance” when pointing out his incredible defensive tendencies. But that was hardly where the praise ended.

Butler, who finished Kentucky’s Round of 32 win over Illinois with 14 points (4-5 FG), five assists, two rebounds, and three steals in 33 minutes, came up with arguably the biggest play of the game down the stretch. It’s been well-documented over the last couple of days, but Pope had to bring it up again with Tom Leach.

With Kentucky up 10 points and under five minutes left in regulation, Butler turned a possible Illinois fastbreak into an and-one finish for the Wildcats. Butler snuck right past Illinois point guard Kasparas Jakucionis (a projected lottery pick), swiped the ball out of his hands, and quickly dished a no-look dime to Brandon Garrison for the contact layup. It was a sequence that essentially wrapped up the victory for UK.

“The steal he had right in front of our bench,” Pope said. “Off a missed shot kind of scramble, and Illinois is starting to race down the floor and Lamont comes all the way from the other side of the floor and knifes in and gets a clean as day turnover and fires it to BG for an and-one. Was a huge momentum shift in the game. Huge part of kind of solidifying our lead in the game.”

“I think he might have come out of the womb in a stance,” Pope added. “His body is just made to be in a defensive stance.”

HUGE steal and dime from Lamont Butler leads to the Garrison and-one 🔥@KentuckyMBB looking to close it out 👀#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/pUVRoyxIZf

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 23, 2025

Butler’s defense has been a key piece to his game well before he arrived in Lexington. A two-time Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year at San Diego State, he makes his money on that end of the floor. Kentucky fans have seen it all season long since his transfer to UK. It was huge once again in the win over Illinois.

“He is a thinking defender,” Pope, who also highlighted Butler’s ability to slam on the brakes on defense, said. “He’s counting dribbles all the time. He’s timing up dribbles, the cadence of the ball. He’s got a rhythm to it. And then as soon as it leaves a player’s hand on the way down, that’s when he’s making his move to go get it.

“But he’s not just mindlessly out there staring. Most of us are just trying to stay in front of somebody. He’s standing in front of somebody and he’s also counting dribbles, he’s also seeing angles, he also does an unbelievable job with his film study, kind of focusing on tendencies. He’s as good as they come.”

And despite a nagging shoulder injury that’s clearly been bothering him over the last three-plus months, his defense continues to be his strong suit. How Butler has managed playing through the pain is an area that has impressed Pope even more than what he’s able to do on defense.

“I’ll tell you one of the most amazing things, is how he is protecting his shoulder now in real time,” Pope said of Butler. “When I talk about his brakes, people are running him constantly through ball screens and UCLA screens and zipper screens and wide screens, he’s got 260-pound guys just seeking him out. And he’s got the uncanny ability to get all the way to the point of the screen and either make contact with the player he’s guarding to create space, or to slam on the brakes and kinda go soft, go limp with his shoulder, and just curl off it.

“I’m telling you, as a guy who studies this game and studies contact, I’ve never seen anybody like it. The ability he has to protect his shoulder right now is almost the most stunning thing that I’ve ever seen in the game of basketball. It really is. It’s really incredible.”

Butler is toughing it out for Kentucky right now. He’s far from being anywhere close to healthy, but his team needs him and he knows it. Just keep protecting that shoulder, Lamont. You’ve got a Tennessee team to beat for a third time.