Mark Pope raves about Lamont Butler and Kerr Kriisa, "the head of the snake" for Kentucky

A popular debate heading into Mark Pope’s first season at Kentucky is who will start at point guard, Lamont Butler or Kerr Kriisa. Pope did not tip his hand one way or another during today’s appearance on Kentucky Sports Radio but had plenty of praise for both guards, whose contrasting styles and competitiveness have only made each other better in practice so far.

“As individuals, always probably start these conversations with Lamont Butler and Kerr Kriisa,” Pope said as he began to go through his roster. “In some ways, they’re really the head of the snake for us. They could not be more different as human beings and basketball players. They’re great in different ways, and they’re brilliant, and they’ve actually become good friends. They add different things.”

Butler comes to Kentucky after four seasons at San Diego State, where he started 101 games and led the Aztecs to two Mountain West regular season and conference tournament titles. He also hit the game-winning shot in the 2023 Final Four to advance San Diego State to its first-ever national championship game. The reigning two-time Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year ranked No. 5 in San Diego State history in career steals (183) and No. 10 in career assists (338).

“Lamont Butler is really trying to bring a leadership voice to this program,” Pope said. “He’s also given us a defensive presence that you can’t overstate. This league, the SEC, is full of great point guards, and I’m spending exactly zero time — I sweat about a lot of things at night, but I’m sweating exactly zero ounces of sweat are coming from my body when I think about guarding point guards in this league, which I don’t know if anybody is doing.”

While Butler excels on defense, Kriisa’s talents are mostly on the offensive end. Last year at West Virginia, he hit 61 three-pointers on 42.4% from the outside. Over three seasons at Arizona, Kriisa totaled 177 threes, which ranks No. 10 in program history. He’s a proven distributor, averaging 4.7 assists per game in his career. You could hear the excitement in Pope’s voice when he talked about watching Kriisa go up against Butler in practice.

“Listen, Lamont is the greatest gift to Kerr because he just presses the living dead out of him. And Kerr is such a talented, offensive-minded player that he’s a real challenge for Lamont. Like, he’s really testing Lamont. Kerr is an incredible cutter. He shoots the lights out of the ball. He’s very, very clever. So, that matchup is super fun.”

Pope added that Kriisa has his own defensive tactics, which should serve as a great example of why he’s a player Kentucky fans will love but every other fanbase will hate.

“Kerr has got a little defensive juice of his own. He’s not really taking your ball, but he’s going to end up flopping at some point, and you’re going to get off your style. You’re going to be so pissed at him, right? He just is beautiful that way, to kind of get under your skin. That’s just a little glimpse into those guys right now. It’s going to be really fun at that point guard spot, for sure.”

Less than a month until we get to see Butler and Kriisa in action at Kentucky’s Blue-White Preseason Event on October 18 at Memorial Coliseum, which Pope promised will be a full scrimmage. Tickets go on sale tomorrow, Friday, September 20 at 10 a.m. ET, with Club Blue members getting a 20% discount.

More from Mark Pope’s appearance on KSR

Point guard play was one of many topics Pope discussed during his 15-minute appearance on KSR. We’ll be churning out stories all day. Here’s a running list, along with the complete replay.

• Collin Chandler Recovering from Minor Offseason “Setback”
• Club Blue’s Blue/White Preseason Event ‘greatest fan experience’ for BBN: “I’ve never seen anything done like it before.”
• Mark Pope says Andrew Carr went 5 straight practices without missing a shot

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