Kentucky Wildcats guard Lamont Butler is expected to return for the NCAA Tournament after missing the Wildcats’ 99-70 loss to Alabama in the SEC Tournament. Head coach Mark Pope shared the positive update on Friday, easing concerns about Butler’s shoulder injury.

Butler’s absence was felt in the loss to Alabama, as Kentucky struggled to keep up offensively and defensively without their dynamic playmaker. Fortunately, Pope clarified that the latest injury is unrelated to Butler’s previous shoulder issue.

Despite the loss, news of Butler’s return has lifted spirits within the team.

“That’s great. I mean, obviously, we were all worried about it,” said guard Koby Brea after the loss to Alabama. “Just knowing that we have such a big piece that’s going to be able to provide a lot for us going into this tournament is important.”

Amari Williams expressed his enthusiasm about having teammates return from injury, emphasizing the dedication they put into their recovery.

“I’m always excited when one of our guys comes back, just knowing they put in the work to recover and be back out there with us,” Williams said. “They give it 100% every time, and that’s what they showed, even the guys who weren’t able to return. We’re just thankful that we can get them back.”

With Butler’s return on the horizon, the Wildcats are hopeful for a strong showing in the NCAA Tournament as they look to bounce back from their SEC Tournament exit.

The 5th-ranked and 3rd-seeded Alabama Crimson Tide destroyed the Kentucky Wildcats 99-70 in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament on Friday night. The win gave the Tide a 3-0 record against UK this year, the first time Bama has ever beaten the Wildcats three times in a season. The only other teams to have matched this feat are Florida and Tennessee. Alabama improved to 25-7 and Kentucky fell to 22-11. The Tide will play Florida at approximately 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday. The game will follow top-seeded Auburn playing 4th-seeded Tennessee at noon CT.

Coach Nate Oats stayed with the starting lineup of Mark Sears, Labaron Philon, Chris Youngblood, Grant Nelson, and Clifford Omoruyi. The Tide started off strong, grabbing an early lead, and never letting it go. The story of the half was Philon, and the Tide’s defense. Bama was able to forge ahead despite missing all of their nine three point attempts. Philon was a magician in the paint, exploding past defenders and scoring all sorts of ways at the rim.

Jarin Stevenson finally made a three pointer for the Tide with around six minutes left in the half. Nelson made the team’s second from distance with 4:46 left for a 36-30 lead. The Tide led 47-38 going into the locker room at halftime, but only 45-38 once play resumed. Multiple times this season Bama has had baskets that were awarded on goaltending calls taken away, and actually happened in both halves in this game.

In the first half the Tide shot 16-37 for 43% with only 2-13 from three point range. Alabama made 11-13 free throws for 85%, grabbed 20 rebounds, had seven steals, one block, six assists, and four turnovers. Philon led the way with 10 points, three assists, one block, and three steals. Nelson and Omoruyi both scored seven. and Sears, Mo Dioubate, and Stevenson added a half a dozen each.

‘The Wildcats shot 12-31 for 39% in the first half with 3-9 from behind the arc UK had 20 rebounds, two blocks, one steal, six assists, and eight turnovers. Amari Williams and Travis Perry scored 11 and 10 points respectively to lead the Kentucky scoring.

The Tide used the same lineup to begin the 2nd half. Youngblood and Philon hit early three pointers to push the lead out to 52-42 with 17:51 left. Philon was all over the court, continuing his outstanding start. Dioubate pushed the lead out to 13 when he drained a long three pointer with 16:20 remaining for a 57-44 lead. Stevenson and Aden Holloway took the torch and ran with it over a several minute period. Dioubate, Youngblood, and Sears joined into the three point brigade, and the Tide was on cruise control.

Sears scored nine straight points for 83-60 lead with 7:35 left. After the timeout one of Sears’ baskets was taken away on another reversed goaltending call. Stevenson and Philon took over and with the help of Holloway, were never threatened the rest of the day. Holloway made two late free throws to reach 99 points, but the Tide couldn’t reach the century mark.

In the second half the Tide blistered the nets, shooting 20-34 for 59% and 9-16 for 56% from deep. Bama also made 5-8 free throws in the half. Overall Alabama finished 36-71 for 51%, 11-29 for 38% from behind the arc, and made 16-21 free throws with 17 assists, four blocks, 11 steals, and turned it over 10 times. Philon scored 21 points, had four assists, three rebounds, one block, and three steals. Stevenson seems to come alive in the postseason and scored 16 on 6-8 shooting with 3-5 from behind the arc and added four rebounds, an assist, a block, and three steals. Holloway had 13 with four assists, Sears added 13 of his own with four assists, and Dioubate scored 13 with eight rebounds, two blocks, and steal.
Kentucky was held to 9-25 shooting in the second half by the suddenly resurgent Alabama defense.

The Cats hit 2-10 from deep and just 12-21 at the charity stripe in the period. Overall UK was 21-56 for 38%, 5-19 from three point range, and 22-35 on freebies. The Wildcats turned it over 16 times, dished 12 assists, blocked three shots, and had six steals. Andrew Carr led the team with 18 points, followed by Williams with 16 points and seven rebounds.
After the game Oats said ““we have some tough minded kids, we wanted to press them (Kentucky) and we were able to score 29 points off of 16 turnovers.” This was the worst loss in the SEC Tournament In Kentucky’s illustrious history. Oats continues to take Alabama basketball to places it has never been.

Next up a battle with the team that is playing better than anyone in the country right now, the Florida Gators. The Tide seems poised to be able to handle the rematch of several days ago, and would love to make up for the loss UF handed them at Coleman Coliseum.

Tip is at 2:30 CT. Roll Tide

Selection Sunday just two days away, but there’s plenty of college basketball action to keep up with on conference tournament weekend.

Top-ranked Duke returned to action on Friday without Cooper Flagg after the potential NBA Draft No. 1 pick sprained his ankle on Thursday. Without Flagg, the Blue Devils hung on to beat North Carolina 74-71 in the ACC semifinals after nearly coughing up a 24-point lead.

UNC had a chance to take the lead in the final seconds, trailing by one with two free throws. But the first missed and the second was waved off for a lane violation, paving the way for the Duke victory.

Beyond that, there are plenty of other noteworthy games on tap. Auburn, Michigan State, Houston and St. John’s all won Friday as they all vie for a potential No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

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Here are all the games we’ll be keeping a close eye on Friday. (Scroll for live updates.)

Friday’s best games:

ACC

No. 1 Duke 74, North Carolina 71
No. 13 Louisville vs. No. 10 Clemson, 9:30 p.m. | ESPN or ESPN 2

Big 12

No. 2 Houston 74, No. 17 BYU 54
No. 9 Texas Tech vs. Arizona, 9:30 p.m. | ESPN/ESPN2

SEC

No. 3 Auburn 62, Ole Miss 57
No. 8 Tennessee 83, Texas 72
No. 4 Florida 95, No. 21 Missouri 81
No. 15 Kentucky vs. No. 5 Alabama, 9:30 p.m. | SECN

Big East

No. 6 St. John’s 79, No. 25 Marquette 63
Creighton vs. UConn, 9 p.m. | Fox

Big Ten

No. 7 Michigan State 74, No. 23 Oregon 64
No. 18 Wisconsin 86, UCLA 70
No. 11 Maryland 88, No. 24 Illinois 65
No. 20 Purdue vs. No. 22 Michigan, 9 p.m. | Big Ten Network

Best of the rest

No. 16 Memphis 83, Wichita State 80
Boise State vs. New Mexico, 9:30 p.m. | CBSSN