Without Lamont Butler, what is Kentucky’s Mark Pope going to do against No. 8 Tennessee?
Kentucky won’t have Lamont Butler on the court Tuesday night in Knoxville?
Now what?
The No. 12-ranked Wildcats will play at No. 8 Tennessee coming off two losses and in need of a victory to get back on the right track — and avoid a losing record in SEC play — but returning to Lexington with a win will be a major uphill battle for a team simply trying to get healthy.
Backup point guard Kerr Kriisa has now been sidelined for more than seven weeks following foot surgery, the result of an injury suffered in the Cats’ comeback win over Gonzaga on Dec. 7. And now they’ll be without Butler.
UK’s starting point guard has been battling through a series of injuries — he missed two games with a sprained ankle suffered in a loss to Clemson on Dec. 3, then hurt his left shoulder in a win over Texas A&M two weeks ago — and Butler didn’t look like himself in Saturday’s 74-69 loss at Vanderbilt, a defeat that dropped the Cats to 3-3 in SEC play and came a week after their 102-97 loss to Alabama in Rupp Arena.
Mark Pope’s hope was that the week off between those games would give his hobbled team some time to heal. Instead, the Wildcats have come out of it looking even worse.
Starting power forward Andrew Carr, who had been playing through a back injury, missed the Vanderbilt game, with Pope saying that he hadn’t made much progress, despite the time off.
Carr was listed on the SEC injury report Monday night as “questionable,” the same designation that UK put on him the night before the Vanderbilt game. (By the definitions under the new league protocol, that basically means Carr has a 50-50 shot to play against the Vols.)
Butler has been ruled out of the game completely. That’s a major blow for Pope’s team.
In the Vandy loss, Butler scored six points, shot 2-for-7 from the field, dished out only two assists and tied a career high with six turnovers before fouling out in the final seconds.
After the game, Pope said Butler was “dealing with all kinds of stuff right now” physically.
“We all know what a warrior he is,” the UK coach said. “He is giving us everything he’s got right now, but it’s hard for him right now.”
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The Kentucky basketball lineup
With Butler now joining Kriisa on the sidelines, who will Mark Pope turn to at the point?
Freshman guard Travis Perry has been Butler’s primary backup since Kriisa went down, but expect to see fifth-year guard Jaxson Robinson in the role more often than not against the Volunteers on Tuesday night — and possibly beyond, depending on Butler’s availability.
When both veteran point guards were out in the final minutes of the Gonzaga game, it was Robinson who shifted into the role and helped the Wildcats complete their comeback with an overtime victory.
Robinson was also UK’s starting point guard against Colgate on Dec. 11 — with Koby Brea getting a start for the only time this season — in the Cats’ only previous game with both Butler and Kriisa completely sidelined. That could be the starting backcourt again Tuesday night. (That’s assuming Carr is able to play. His absence would further shake things up.)
Pope joked after the win over Gonzaga that Robinson — who played under the coach at BYU for two years before following him to UK last offseason — was not fond of running the point, and Robinson has not tried to hide his preference of playing more of an off-the-ball role on the perimeter.
But there aren’t many options. Perry has made strides over the past few weeks — earning praise from both Pope and his UK teammates for his play at the point — but he often looked overmatched in the Vanderbilt game. With Vandy leading 41-27 at halftime, Pope ended up shifting his strategy — and shortening his bench — in the second half.
By the time Butler subbed out with 16:25 left in the game, the Cats had narrowed Vandy’s lead to 44-39, and Pope stuck with Robinson on the floor, instead of subbing Perry into the game. UK played more than four minutes with Butler out of the game — and Robinson in — tying the game at 51 by the time he returned.
Butler sat for another stretch late in the second half that lasted a little more than two minutes. During that time, Robinson was joined on the court by Brea, Otega Oweh, Ansley Almonor and Amari Williams.
Perry played just 60 seconds in the second half — not counting the final five seconds of the game, when Butler fouled out and the outcome was settled — and that minute of playing time came with Butler and Robinson also on the court.
Fellow freshman Collin Chandler had an opportunity to play on the ball early Saturday, too, but he dribbled into pressure for a turnover — his only countable stat in three minutes, other than a missed 3-pointer — and didn’t make an appearance in the second half.
A chance for Travis Perry?
Pope has shown confidence in Perry over the past few weeks, but this matchup, in particular, would pose a near-insurmountable challenge for the freshman.
Tennessee entered the week at No. 1 in the KenPom defensive efficiency ratings, and whoever plays the point Tuesday night is going to have to do battle with Zakai Zeigler, who has long held the reputation as one of the best perimeter defenders in the SEC.
The metrics at EvanMiya.com rank Zeigler as the No. 3 defender in the league — behind only Auburn’s Johni Broome and Mississippi State’s Cameron Matthews — and the No. 2 most-effective defensive guard in the country, second only to Houston’s Terrance Arceneaux.
Zeigler can also be a handful offensively, which will pose problems for a Kentucky defense without Butler, who is also considered to be one of the best perimeter defenders in college basketball.
The KenPom ratings have Zeigler as the No. 3 overall player in the league, behind only Broome and Florida senior guard Walter Clayon Jr., who scored 33 points on UK this month.
The Cats were already hurting without Kriisa, a skilled offensive player who provided Kentucky with immense pace and was expected to be a high-level backup to Butler this season.
“I mean, obviously it’s really detrimental to this team not having Kerr,” Robinson told the Herald-Leader on Monday afternoon. “Especially as another point guard that we were looking to when he was healthy. But he’s done a great job just keeping the spirits high on the bench, in the locker room — being very vocal, and just helping out guys like me or TP, who might have to step into that point guard role.”
And Perry will surely see plenty of opportunities at the point Tuesday night, even if Robinson does indeed get the lion’s share of the minutes there.
Kentucky’s reigning Mr. Basketball has shown steady progress over the past few weeks. Perry dished out a couple of assists in the loss to Alabama, hit two 3-pointers in the win over Texas A&M four days before that, and he’s had his moments in other SEC games.
Perry has said that he’s growing a little more comfortable with the speed and physicality of the college game every time he steps onto the court against league competition. Nothing about Tuesday night’s game is likely to be comfortable, but Kentucky will almost certainly need some quality minutes from the freshman.
“Obviously, the couple first SEC games, it’s good to get comfortable in those — playing a couple of tough road environments,” Perry said of getting meaningful minutes in games at Georgia and Mississippi State. “But I think every game I’ll continue to get more comfortable, just learning things about the game. It’s important in college basketball for the game to slow down for you. And I think I’m getting to that point a little bit, but there’s always more that you can learn every game.”
This story was originally published January 28, 2025 at 6:15 AM.
