Lamont Butler completely bought in to Mark Pope's system and it's paying off

Butler has showcased a lot more of his skills this season.

Dec 14, 2024; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Lamont Butler (1) gets up after being fouled during the second half against the Louisville Cardinals at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images / Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

The first thing this Kentucky team did when they decided to play for Mark Pope in his first year at Kentucky was buy into Mark Pope's style of playing. Each player on the team has the same common goal, and that is to hang banners. One of those players, Lamont Butler, is a former MWC Defensive Player of the Year, and has a huge defensive presence. He had to buy into a system that prioritized scoring, and he did just that.

Butler is riding with Mark Pope's system, and boy, has it paid off so far this season. The defensive minded guard isn't just impacting on defense, he is also making an impact in nearly every area of the stat sheet. One example was this past Saturday, when he had a dominating perfomance against Louisville. He had a career-high 33 points on outstanding 10-10 shooting that included 6 threes. A defensive guard going 6-6 from deep? That's impressive. Mark Pope said Butler was all-in with playing in his system when arriving at Kentucky. He talked about that on the College Hoops Today podcast with Jon Rothstein.

"We got to see Lamont Butler write his own personal chapter that will never be forgotten in the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry as one of the greatest individual performances that we've ever seen in that historic game. ...Lamont knew that coming to Kentucky and playing for us, he was gonna be asked to play a much different style. To his credit, he's been willing to learn, and willing to trust, and really willing to buy in without a lot of hesitation into what we're trying to do and how we do it. It's allowing some of the skills that weren't highlighted at San Diego State, they're getting highlighted here. It's just different. His skills were highlighted in an incredible way at San Diego State, and some different skills are being highlighted here. So, it's really fun for him to be able to show the world some of the other things that he's fully capable of doing."

- Pope on Lamont Butler's growth.

Pope has said numerous times in the past about the winning DNA of Lamont Butler, and that is rubbing off on his teammates too. They all know the ultimate end-goal, and they're hungry for it. A defensive-minded guard that has also been impressive on the offensive end is a very good sign of a great point guard. Butler has showed all the intangibles this season.