LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The healthy return of grad senior point guard Lamont Butler and a newfound emphasis on defense helped Kentucky bounce back from one of its worst losses of the season.
Butler's presence seemed to stabilize the No. 14 Wildcats on both ends of the floor, leading to an 80-57 win over South Carolina on Saturday at Rupp Arena.
Kentucky (16-7, 5-5 SEC) held an opponent in the 50s for only the third time this season and for the first time in league play. The Cats limited South Carolina to just 33% (19 of 58) from the field after getting torched four days earlier for 98 points at Ole Miss and surrendering 89 to Arkansas a week ago.
"I thought our guys were really focused for the most part," UK head coach Mark Pope said. We had some lapses, and we can get much better, but they bought into being a little bit more disruptive, a little bit more aggressive at the point of attack."
The Cats forced nine turnovers after forcing just one on Tuesday night in Oxford, a performance which dropped them to dead last nationally in that stat column.
"It felt great," UK junior guard Otega Oweh said. "And the way we did it, we got better playing defense, playing better team defense, just helping the helper and having each other’s back, and that was what we worked on the whole week."
Offensively, having Butler back at the point allowed other players to fill their normal roles. He had been dealing with shoulder soreness that caused him to miss the previous three games.
“Oh, it was huge," Oweh said. "Like, just his presence helps us out so much, offensively, defensively."
Kentucky shot 48.4% from the field, went 8-for-23 from the arc, dished out 19 assists, and displayed its trademark balance with four players in double figures and three more between six and nine points. Oweh led the way with 17 points, followed by sophomore center Brandon Garrison with a season-high 15 on a 7-of-8 shooting day, and 10 apiece for Amari Williams and Koby Brea.
Brea also chipped in with six assists and five rebounds while playing turnover-free basketball.
"I can't be more proud of him," Pope said. "We had a chance to talk a couple of days about about the challenges ahead of us, and he's had his best two days of practice the last two days on the defensive end. And it carried over to the game. I thought he was brilliant."
Kentucky also won the battle on the glass 41-35, including six players with four or more rebounds.
South Carolina (10-13, 0-10 SEC) was led by sophomore forward Collin Murray-Boyles with 14 points and eight rebounds, but he didn't have one of his huge all-around performances that has kept the Gamecocks much closer to some other ranked SEC opponents.
"We just weren’t able to keep up the pace offensively," South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris said. "And we couldn’t make shots. We didn’t have guys that performed particularly well, not to take anything away at all from what (Kentucky) did.
"They were motivated, they had a lot of energy defensively. They were active."
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In this "Rapid Recap" feature, we touch on some quick-hitters from the UK victory...
KEY MOMENT:
South Carolina sliced an 18-point deficit down to nine with just over 10 minutes to play, but the Gamecocks found themselves down 61-41 at the 7:16 mark. In less than three minutes, the Cats were able to reclaim the comfortable lead and build on it with the help of a 3-pointer by Otega Oweh and three-point plays by Amari Williams and Lamont Butler.
GAME BALL:
Koby Brea Kentucky -- The grad senior wing was symbolic of the Cats' bounce back as a team. He scored 10 points, dished out six assists, grabbed five rebounds, committed no turnovers, and played perhaps the best defense he has played since coming to Lexington.
BY THE NUMBERS:
19:9 - The Cats' assist-to-turnover ratio.
+32/-9 - Scoring differential with UK center Amari Williams on and off the court.
39-4 - Bench scoring advantage for the Cats.
55-15 - UK's lead in the all-time series with South Carolina. The Cats are 30-3 against the Gamecocks in Lexington.
57 - Points by the opponent were the fewest against UK in an SEC home game since holding Auburn to 54 in 2023.
20,003 - Attendance at Rupp Arena.
QUOTABLE:
"More than anything, aside from him being a good player, it think it changes the dynamics of what some other guys are out there doing on the court. Maybe some guys are in more natural roles. I think that is probably the thing I noticed the most. He is a competitor. He has started all these games for a reason. He helps them play their best version of basketball on both ends of the court.” -- South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris on UK point guard Lamont Butler.
UP NEXT:
Kentucky returns to action on Tuesday night at Rupp Arena in a rematch with No. 4 Tennessee. The Cats won 78-73 last week in Knoxville. The Volunteers (20-4, 7-4 SEC) will be coming to town off a 70-52 win on Saturday at Oklahoma. Tipoff for the Cats and Vols will be 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.
