Otega Oweh, Lamont Butler kept Kentucky alive in 2nd half against Alabama

It’s obvious from simply looking at the box score, but Kentucky would have been in deep trouble without its starting backcourt of Otega Oweh and Lamont Butler against Alabama. They were major impact players in the Wildcats’ 102-97 loss, leading as UK’s top two scorers with 21 and 17 points, respectively.

But that duo was even more impressive in the second half with a combined 26 points — 13 a piece. Whenever it felt like Kentucky needed a bucket, it was Oweh or Butler who answered the call.

Let’s look at a couple of examples, starting with Oweh.

The junior finished his night with a final stat line of 21 points (the fourth time this season he’s reached that mark), six rebounds, two steals, one block, and zero turnovers in 33 minutes. He scored four straight points early in the second half that pushed Kentucky in front after trailing at the break. Midway through the second half, he rattled off seven straight points while Alabama was draining shots from deep which kept UK within striking distance.

Whether he was playing off one foot or two, which head coach Mark Pope has been working on him with regularly, didn’t seem to matter.

“No one’s challenged me like that the way Coach Pope does,” Oweh said postgame. “Pope is giving me the leeway to make certain decisions. I just got to make the right decision.”

And for the most part, he did. Oweh has still scored more than 10 points in every single game this season, by the way.

As for Butler, the graduate student finished his night with 17 points, eight assists (tying a career-high), four rebounds, two blocks, one steal, and one turnover in 32 minutes. With roughly six minutes left in the game, Butler grabbed an offensive rebound before dishing out back-to-back assists that knotted the score at 81-81 — the last time this game was tied. His overall defense on All-American point guard Mark Sears, who shot just 6-17 from the floor, shouldn’t go unnoticed.

Neither player was without their faults against Alabama (Butler missed a couple of key shots late), but they did more than enough to give Kentucky a chance to win down the stretch. Those two, plus Brandon Garrison, were the only Wildcats with positive plus/minus numbers.

Butler nearly didn’t even play. He was listed as a game-time decision after getting beat up in Kentucky’s win earlier this week against Texas A&M. He responded by having one of his best performances of the season yet. His effort, along with Oweh’s, just weren’t enough to knock off a Top 5 Alabama squad.

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