MILWAUKEE — First-year Kentucky coach Mark Pope is extremely familiar with the Wildcats’ NCAA Tournament legacy, but he’s also well aware of the recent history of opening-weekend upsets.
The No. 3-seeded Wildcats face No. 14 seed Troy in the opening round of the Midwest Region on Friday in Milwaukee.
Kentucky (22-11) was a No. 3 seed in 2024 when it was upset in the first round by 14th-seeded Oakland, 80-76, falling victim to a record 3-point shooting barrage by sixth man Jack Gohlke.
This year, Kentucky and Pope have their own March hero back in action. Known to his teammates as “LaMarch,” Lamont Butler is a transfer from San Diego State. He made the buzzer-beater against FAU in the Final Four to send the Aztecs to the 2023 championship game and will play Friday after missing the 99-70 loss to Alabama in the SEC tournament quarterfinals.
“I’ve been blessed with playing in this event for my fifth year now,” Butler said. “A lot of people can’t say that, so it’s definitely a blessing. I’m just excited to go out there and see what we can do.”
Pope said Troy (23-10) caught his attention quickly in early scouting with a defense ranked in the top 25 nationally forcing turnovers and offensive rebounds.
“They’re a really good team. Just won their conference championship. Really good guard. Conference player of the year,” Pope said. “He runs the whole show for them. They’re a very, very good team.”
Tayton Conerway, the Sun Belt Player of the Year, averages 14.3 points and Myles Rigsby adds 12.0. Thomas Dowd is the leading rebounder at 6.8 per game. The Trojans outrebound opponents by 5.6 per game.
The Trojans have won six straight and average 73.9 points per game.
Troy earned its third berth in the NCAA Tournament with a 94-81 victory over Arkansas State in the Sun Belt Conference tournament title game, overcoming an eight-point deficit in the final 10 minutes.
“We’ll spend the next five days laser-focused on one thing and that’s Troy, and try to figure out how to beat them,” said Pope, a captain on Kentucky’s 1996 national title.
Pope is in his first season at Kentucky after five seasons at BYU. Kentucky averages 85.3 points per game and hit 317 3-pointers this season, already third most in program history. They have 10 or more from beyond the arc in 18 games, most in a single season in program history.
Otega Oweh averages 16.2 points, and Butler and Koby Brea add 11.5 apiece for the Wildcats. Point guard Jaxson Robinson, who averaged 13.0 points per game, underwent season-ending surgery after injuring his wrist in early February.
“We’ve got to take good shots, make sure we’re matched up and then make it difficult for them,” Troy coach Scott Cross said Tuesday. “And then defend that 3-point line. I mean, they’re going to take 30 3s a game. We’ve got to make those 30 as difficult as possible and try and take away as many as they can.”
Troy was a No. 15 seed when it lost to Duke 87-56 in 2017 and a 14 seed when it lost to Xavier 71-59 in 2003.
“We know the challenge is very, very great,” Cross said. “Anytime you’re a 14 seed, whoever you play is going to be super tough, one of the 12-best teams in the country. Not an easy task, but every year it seems like one 14 team upsets a three-seed. Why not Troy?”
–Jim Hoehn, Field Level Media
