Mark Pope says Lamont Butler's ankle is 'a little bit of an issue,' but 'super hopeful' for Gonzaga

The game changed when Lamont Butler sat out due to foul trouble in the first half, then again when he tweaked his ankle in the second half. He fought back to play on the “broken wheel,” as Mark Pope called it, but his 19 minutes played weren’t enough to make up for the 21 minutes he was out.

Kentucky had its chances on the road at Clemson, but the Wildcats couldn’t get it done without just a little more from its standout point guard, who still finished with 16 points on 6-9 shooting and 2-4 from three with five assists, two rebounds and a steal.

“We just didn’t function great (without Butler),” Pope said after the loss. “… Lamont was kind of giving us everything he had in the second half but he was on a little bit of broken wheel and so certainly that had some impact on the game.”

Where do things stand for Butler going into Kentucky’s matchup vs. No. 7 Gonzaga out in Seattle? Pope wasn’t totally optimistic about a clean bill of health, going out of his way to call his ankle injury “a little bit of an issue.”

Does that rule him out against the Bulldogs? Not quite. In fact, it sounds like the fifth-year senior will try to give it a go even if he’s not quite back to full strength.

“We’re super hopeful we’ll have him back,” Pope said.

Butler is currently averaging 12.9 points, 3.9 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 22.5 minutes per game as Kentucky’s do-it-all threat in the backcourt. After starting his time in Lexington failing to hit the double-digit scoring mark in two of his first three games, he has since done it in five straight en route to 14.8 points per game in that span.

“He’s the most physical guard in the country, especially defensively,” Amari Williams said after the Clemson game.

Needless to say, the Wildcats will need him against one of the best teams in college basketball.