In recent weeks, Kentucky men’s basketball fans have come to fear the league-mandated SEC injury reports that are released the night before games.

This, in no small part, can be attributed to the frequent presence of fifth-year guard and defensive talisman Lamont Butler on those reports.

The experienced point guard has been an injury mainstay for head coach Mark Pope and the Wildcats in recent weeks, ever since Butler injured his left shoulder during a Jan. 14 home win against Texas A&M. Butler played in UK’s next two games following that injury — losses at home to Alabama and at Vanderbilt — but he was clearly hampered by it.

So, he took a rest.

Butler missed three straight games for the Wildcats while he recovered, which bumped his missed game total to five for the season.

While Kentucky was able to score an upset road win at top-10 Tennessee with Butler out of the lineup, it was clear the Cats missed his presence on both ends of the floor. No example of this was stronger than Tuesday’s blowout loss at No. 25 Ole Miss, during which Kentucky allowed 98 points.

But, fortunately for all parties involved, Butler’s spell on the sidelines appears to be over.

After first being listed as questionable on Friday’s injury report, Butler was wiped from the report altogether Saturday morning. Butler went through pregame warmups at Rupp Arena like normal ahead of the Wildcats’ noon tipoff against South Carolina, only reaching for his left shoulder occasionally.

By game time, Butler was back in his usual place in the Kentucky starting lineup for what became a blowout 80-57 win over South Carolina, which remains the only SEC squad without a win in league play.

“It felt great,” Butler told the

UK Sports Network afterward. “After missing the last three games, I was itching to come back, and I finally got healthy enough to where I could make an impact on the court.”

Butler had missed UK’s last three games before Saturday’s contest. Ryan C. Hermens rhermens@herald-leader.com
During his weekly press conference Thursday afternoon, Pope declined to put a timetable on when Butler would return to game action for UK. The Kentucky coach laid out what the next few days would look like for Butler — a former four-year standout at San Diego State — as he eyed a return.

First was Thursday’s practice, during which Pope said Butler would go through non-contact drills before being assessed Friday. Things checked out well for Butler, who then went through a full-contact practice Friday.

That was enough for Pope to pull Butler’s name completely off UK’s injury report and all but confirm Butler’s return.

Butler’s statistical production Saturday wasn’t all that remarkable: eight points, three assists, three turnovers, on rebound and one steal in 23 minutes. He went 2-for-5 from the field and knocked down four of five shots from the foul line. UK outscored South Carolina by 13 points with Butler on the floor.

“It certainly helps having Lamont back,” Pope said, stating the obvious, during his postgame press conference. “… Just his presence. We just taped him up and rolled him out there. But his presence really helped us for sure.”

While Butler’s individual stat line might not jump off the page, Kentucky’s team defensive performance sure did.

South Carolina shot just 32.8% from the field and 18.2% from 3-point range. The Gamecocks had more turnovers (nine) than assists (seven). Kentucky had 14 points off takeaways compared to only six for the visitors.

This, in every way, was a much needed bounce-back performance on the defensive end from the Cats, who entered Saturday’s slate of games ranked 108th in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom. By late afternoon, UK had already jumped up to 93rd in the country in that metric.

“They had a lot of energy, defensively. They were active,” South Carolina head coach Lamont Paris said.

“They were pressuring some of our guys that were maybe not quite strong with the ball. I’d say that was probably a little bit different … They were after it. They were trying to pressure the ball a little bit.”

“I thought our guys were really focused for the most part. We had some lapses and we can get much better,” Pope said of his team’s defensive showing.

“They bought into being a little bit more disruptive and a little bit more aggressive at the point of attack. Our rotations were OK-ish in a growing process. I thought our bigs were pretty diligent in their assignments, they had complicated assignments tonight. Their job description was pretty lengthy tonight and I thought they were terrific.”

The 57 points scored by South Carolina marked UK’s second-lowest scoring total allowed this season. Only Wright State — which tallied just 54 points in the season opener on Nov. 4 — has scored less against Kentucky.

And in speaking to Kentucky players after the game, it was clear they got a lift from having their defensive linchpin back on the court.

“We missed him,” sophomore forward Brandon Garrison said of Butler. “You could tell when we were out there. So just having him back, I feel like it’s a good thing and it helps our team out a lot, as you can see.”

“Just getting more steals and scoring in the fast break,” Garrison added about Butler’s impact.

“You can trust (Butler) to go pickpocket whomever he’s guarding.”

Now, Kentucky will wait and see how Butler turns out Sunday. When speaking about injuries this season, Pope has often pointed to how his players feel the day after a game or practice as a true measuring stick for how their recovery is progressing.

This was central to how Kentucky handled fifth-year forward Andrew Carr’s back injury in recent weeks, and it will likely come into play with both Butler and fifth-year guard Jaxson Robinson, who started as usual for UK on Saturday despite being listed as a game-time decision with a wrist injury.

“We’re resilient. We’ve got a next up mentality,” Butler said, addressing how he and his teammates have dealt with injury issues.

“(If) somebody goes down, we know our brother has got our back. We’ve just been going through it all year. We’re just going to keep getting better. That’s the message from coach and everybody else.”