Lamont Butler's impact helps, but Kentucky's defensive improvement has been a team effort

Kentucky’s defense has improved dramatically over the last month. Since giving up 98 points in a road loss to Ole Miss on Feb. 4, we’ve seen steady improvements on that end of the floor.

Mark Pope‘s team is up to 56th nationally in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency, a significant jump from this time a month ago when the Wildcats were sitting outside the Top 100. “We got into the 50s guys. My gosh,” Pope joked during his Thursday press conference. After allowing 86 points per game in the first nine SEC contests, that number has been trimmed down to just 75 points per game in the eight games since.

If we just look at the last eight games for Kentucky, which went 5-3 during that span, we find that Pope has crafted a Top 20 defense (16th, to be exact) in the country, per BartTorvik. That’s in spite of Alabama and Auburn dropping 96 and 94 points, respectively, against the ‘Cats. But even with those games accounted for, the advanced stats like what Kentucky has been doing on defense.

***Even Less Small Sample Size Alert***

Since February 8, Kentucky ranks 16th in adjusted defensive efficiency per Bart Torvik.

The 'Cats are 5-3 during that span.

On the season, Kentucky is now 58th in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency. https://t.co/pTf9tTlkSl

— Brandon Ramsey (@BRamseyKSR) March 5, 2025

An easy explanation for the sudden increase in defensive efficiency? The return of starting point guard Lamont Butler, who was a two-time Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year at San Diego State. A nagging shoulder injury sidelined Butler for three straight games in late January-early February, but he came back on Feb. 8, kick starting Kentucky’s streak of good defensive performances.

It’s not just Butler who is making an impact though. After playing in wins over South Carolina (Feb. 8) and Tennessee (Feb. 11), he was sidelined once again for three straight games as his shoulder injury crept back up. His teammates stepped up to the challenge in his absence. No one is going to say Kentucky played perfect defense in any of the last eight games, but there has been a noticeable shift.

“Lamont makes a massive difference (on defense). Now, to the team’s credit, we made a huge jump sans Lamont, right?” Pope said. “And then him coming back is — I mean, come on, like it makes such a difference for us having him at the point of attack. It’s a massive difference. So it’s both the impact that he has on the game, which is incredible, he’s done it his entire career. And then the rest of the team catching up. In the last seven games now, we’ve been a top 20 defensive team. You don’t even have a chance to be competitive if you can’t function defensively.”

In the first nine SEC games of the season, opponents were shooting 34 percent from deep on 33 attempts per outing against UK. In the eight games since, it’s down to 29.2 percent from deep on just 24 attempts per outing. Kentucky was initially more willing to let average or below average three-point shooters fire from deep. That scheme appears to have changed.

UK is also forcing more turnovers. The defense caused just seven turnovers per game in the first nine SEC contests, which has jumped to 12 per game over the last eight. The uptick in aggressiveness, not just from Butler, is paying off. Kentucky just needs to keep it up for (hopefully) another month.

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