The SEC injury report is out. Lamont Butler is a game-time decision for UK against Alabama.
Expectations are high for what should be a fast-paced, free-flowing college basketball matchup Saturday afternoon in Rupp Arena.
Points, and plenty of them, should be on offer when Mark Pope’s No. 8-ranked Kentucky team (14-3 overall and 3-1 in SEC play) plays Nate Oats’ No. 4 Alabama squad (14-3, 3-1) at noon in Lexington.
But in the buildup to what could be a classic SEC battle, both the Wildcats and Crimson Tide have some injury concerns. A clearer picture of which players will, and won’t, play in Saturday’s game arrived Friday night, with the initial release of the SEC pregame injury report.
And the picture became even clearer Saturday morning with the release of an updated injury report.
Lamont Butler is game-time decision for UK basketball
The headline news from Kentucky’s initial injury report was the presence of both fifth-year guard Lamont Butler and fifth-year forward Andrew Carr, although Carr was removed from the injury report Saturday morning.
Butler — who missed two games in December due to a right ankle injury during the second half of UK’s loss at Clemson in the SEC/ACC Challenge — was listed as questionable on Friday for the game against Alabama. By Saturday morning, Butler’s status changed to a game-time decision.
The “game-time decision” designation means that “coaches an/or medical personnel need to evaluate the student-athlete in pregame warmups before deciding whether he can participate in the game.”
Butler went through his normal pregame warmup routine before Saturday’s game against Alabama.
On UK’s pregame radio show, Pope said that Butler “is doing great” and that he will play, if possible, against the Crimson Tide.
Butler — a 6-foot-2 guard — is averaging 13.4 points and 4.7 assists per game for the Wildcats this season. Butler has had a combined 15 assists over UK’s last two games.
The former San Diego State standout has suffered some hard falls in recent games, including several during UK’s home win over No. 11 Texas A&M on Tuesday night. Butler has played at least 30 minutes in all four of Kentucky’s SEC games so far.
Carr — a 6-foot-11, 235-pound fifth-year forward — was listed as probable to play in Friday’s initial injury report, before being removed from the report Saturday morning.
Carr has started all 17 games for Kentucky this season. He’s averaging 11.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.
Carr has been a recent mainstay of Kentucky’s pregame injury reports. Prior to UK’s win at Mississippi State last Saturday, Carr was listed as “questionable” to play. Carr was eventually listed as a “game-time decision” for the Mississippi State game.
Prior to Tuesday’s home win over Texas A&M, Carr was listed as probable to play against the Aggies. Carr was eventually removed from UK’s injury report before the game began.
On Thursday afternoon, Pope indicated that UK’s upcoming midweek bye — after Saturday’s game, the Wildcats won’t play again for a week — should aid Carr’s return to full health.
“We’re kind of scratching and clawing to stay alive right now,” Pope said. “And then we’ll be able to put three days together next week where hopefully we can make some progress next week. Right now, (Carr) is on a no practice (schedule) and just hope that we can tape him together for a game. That’s kind of how we’ve been rolling the last two weeks.”
“He’s dying to play and so we’re kind of piecing it together ...” Pope added about Carr. “We do have some semblance of confidence that he’s going to improve. So, we’ll see where we go.”
Kerr Kriisa — the fifth-year Kentucky guard from Estonia who previously played at Arizona and West Virginia — remains out and will miss his ninth consecutive game for the Wildcats.
Kriisa suffered a foot injury Dec. 7 during UK’s overtime win over Gonzaga in Seattle. The day after that game, Kentucky announced that Kriisa’s injury required surgery. The injury is not expected to be season-ending for Kriisa, who has used crutches and worn a walking boot while on Kentucky’s bench in recent weeks.
On his weekly radio show Monday night, Pope provided a recovery update on Kriisa.
“Kerr is out of the (walking) boot, for at least little segments of the day, which he’s excited about,” Pope said. “It’s not full-time. He’ll kind of begin some rehab here in the next couple of weeks. And then it’s just a matter of just seeing how fast and cleanly he can progress.”
While Pope didn’t provide a time frame for Kriisa’s return, it was clear from the UK coach’s comments that progress is being made in Kriisa’s recovery. This was confirmed prior to Tuesday’s game against Texas A&M, when the Herald-Leader watched Kriisa participate in light, unstructured shooting work several hours before tip-off.
Alabama’s Derrion Reid won’t play against UK
The Crimson Tide were without three players for Tuesday’s surprise home loss to No. 21 Ole Miss. And Alabama will be without all three again Saturday.
One of these absences was expected: Graduate student guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. ruptured an Achilles tendon during a game against Oregon on Nov. 30 and is out for the rest of the season.
Senior guard Houston Mallette has missed Alabama’s last two games as the result of lingering knee injuries. Mallette had initially planned to redshirt the 2024-25 season due to the knee injuries, but that plan was scrapped after Wrightsell’s season-ending injury.
Mallette — previously a three-year starter at Pepperdine — has only played five minutes against SEC opponents this season. Oats said prior to the Ole Miss game that Mallette wouldn’t play in that contest for the Tide.
Mallette is out again for Saturday’s game at Kentucky.
The surprise absence for Alabama against Ole Miss was freshman forward Derrion Reid, who previously missed a December nonconference game due to an ankle injury.
On Friday, Oats said Reid wasn’t a full participant in Alabama’s final practice. Oats added that Reid was questionable to play against UK.
“He’s coming along,” Oats said Friday about Reid. “I just don’t know how quickly, if it’ll be tomorrow yet or not.”
By Saturday morning, Reid was listed as out on the injury report.
Reid — a former five-star recruit — is averaging 8.1 points and 3.4 rebounds per game this season. Reid has tallied double-digit scoring in two SEC games this season, ranked wins over Oklahoma and Texas A&M.
This story was originally published January 17, 2025 at 8:25 PM.
