KSR Today: Enjoying Another Kentucky Victory Over Louisville
A new chapter of the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry was written and this story went like almost every other one in the past. Mark Pope introduced Pat Kelsey to the Battle of the Bluegrass with a 93-86 Kentucky Wildcats win.
Pope split the series as a player, but in recent years, it’s been all Cats everything. Kentucky has now won 14 of the last 17. George W. Bush was the president the last time Louisville won at Rupp Arena. As dominant as Kentucky was at times, it didn’t always feel that way during the contentious rivalry matchup.
Missing three key players, the shorthanded Cards dug into an early hole. Kentucky led by a dozen just ten minutes into the game. It felt like the Cats were on the verge of turning it into a blowout when Louisville shot its way out of that hole. Louisville shot 14-39 from three-point land, led by Terrence Edwards‘ five, to put some pressure back on the Cats. Lamont Butler was happy to put it on his shoulders.
After missing 2.5 games with an ankle injury, the Kentucky point guard had an unforgettable performance. He was a perfect 10-10 from the field, sinking six shots from behind the three-point line, to score 33 points.
“My goodness,” Mark Pope said after the game, “what an incredible, I mean Lamont Butler just gave us one of the all-time greatest performances in the history of this super special game. Like, of all time. The numbers back it up. The way he came into it backs it up. And you think about when you go out and you are trying to recruit and our guys, our staff is so good and those guys identify a winner, then this is what you get from him, right? I’m so proud of him and major credit-major credit.”
My goodness is right. That was something special. Let’s relive it some more, shall we?
Things Got Chippy
You could feel the hate in the air. It was beautiful. A UofL player flipped off Kentucky fans entering the halftime locker room. A scuffle on the Louisville bench broke out with Brandon Garrison right in the middle of the action. Kentucky Wildcats celebrated by throwing as many Ls Down as possible. For a few years, this game missed juice. It wasn’t lacking at all on Saturday night.
More Links from KSR’s Coverage of Kentucky-Louisville
RECAP: Lamont Butler’s 33 points Lead Kentucky Past Louisville
BOX SCORE: Louisville’s Three-Pointers Weren’t Enough
WATCH: Highlights from the Win
KSR’s 10 Favorite Things from the Win
Terrence Edwards wants another year of eligibility just to play Kentucky again
WATCH: Pope, Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robinson, Otega Oweh recap the win
Otega Oweh is excelling at being present and in the moment on the court
Pope was haunted by his loss to Louisville
Every Kentucky Fan Who Wanted a Pope Autograph Got One
Lamont Butler was the MVP of the Battle of the Bluegrass
Hang out with Jaxson Robinson
You’ve already seen Santa. Now take a trip to KSBar and Grille to meet Jaxson Robinson. The Kentucky guard will be signing autographs and taking pictures with BBN from 2-3:30 this afternoon. It’s $25 a person and Club Blue members can skip the line with your lightning pass. You can find more details here.
Kentucky Volleyball Season Ends in the Elite Eight
Craig Skinner’s squad fought valiaintly, but Pitt looked like the best team in the country. Kentucky kept it close for the first two sets, but couldn’t steal one from the Panthers. The dam broke in the third and the No. 1 seed swept the Wildcats out of the postseason (25-22, 25-23, 25-17). Brooklyn DeLeye led the Cats with 22 kills in the lost. Kentucky’s season ends with a 23-8 record and another SEC Championship. Pitt advances to play Louisville in the Final Four.
Kentucky WBB gets a W
While the volleyball team played Pitt and the men’s basketball team took down Louisville, Kenny Brooks’ Cats were steamrolling Purdue in West Lafayette. Georgia Amoore netted 21 points and Clara Strack had a double-double to help the Cats cruise to an 82-52 win over the Boilermakers.
Kentucky Football News All at Once
We like to remind BBN that you need to keep your head on a swivel during this time of year for Kentucky football news. Saturday served as another reminder. Shortly after lunchtime, there was a 10-minute period where three significant pieces of news dropped.
Football Scoop was responsible for two of the reports. The outlet led with the good news — Kentucky is targeting L’Damian Washington as its next wide receivers coach. Stoops is swiping the former Missouri pass-catcher from Alex Golesh’s staff at USF. If you recall, Golesh rose to the head coaching ranks while coaching under Josh Heupel. Washington also has experience working for Jeff Lebby in another pass-happy offense.
One minute later, they shared that Bill Belichick is pursuing Vince Marrow to join his inaugural staff at North Carolina. Marrow has considered various vacancies over the years. Few places can offer anything better than what he has at Kentucky. The chance to help the greatest NFL head coach build a college football roster might be one that’s too good to pass up.
Two Transfer Portal Commits
We were still processing all of the coaching news when Sam Greene announced that he will be a Kentucky Wildcat. The talented EDGE started coming along during the second half of his second season at USC. Brad White needs to completely rebuild his EDGE room and this DMV prospect is a solid piece to start with. Learn more about Greene by reading the KSR Bio Blast.
Marshall LB Landyn Watson waited until after the dust settled to share that he is making the move from Huntington to Lexington. Watson originally started his collegiate career at TCU. He told Jacob Polacheck that he believes in the future of Brad White’s Kentucky defense.
“My goal is obviously bringing a winning culture to the locker room with some of my other teammates,” Watson said. “I want to be able to make plays, bring a lot of value to this university, and put this university back on top.”
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