NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament East Regional-Connecticut vs San Diego State

Lamont Butler, who starred for San Diego State in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, will play his final year of college basketball at Kentucky, multiple reports said Friday. Butler entered the transfer portal Wednesday after four seasons with the Aztecs. He averaged 7.7 points, 2.6 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals over 131 career games (102 starts). Butler permanently etched his name in San Diego State lore by swishing a buzzer-beating shot as time expired to give the Aztecs a 72-71 victory over Florida Atlantic in the 2023 Final Four. He was crucial to the Aztecs' run to the national title game, putting up 10.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.2 steals and shooting 38.9 percent from 3-point range in those six tournament games before San Diego State fell to UConn in the final. This past season, Butler had a career-high 9.3 ppg to go with 3.0 assists, 2.6 boards and 1.5 steals and was named the Mountain West's Defensive Player of the Year. Kentucky is rebuilding its roster under new coach Mark Pope after John Calipari left to take the same job at Arkansas, leading to a slew of transfers and decommitments. --Field Level Media