Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robinson are both out for Kentucky basketball for SEC game at Texas
A Kentucky basketball team full of injury issues is ready to hit the road again in SEC play.
The No. 15 Wildcats (17-7 overall, 6-5 SEC) will play at Texas (15-10, 4-8) on Saturday night in Austin.
Last time out, Kentucky completed an impressive season sweep over archival Tennessee, although that 75-64 home win over the Volunteers came at a cost. UK now has a trio of fifth-year guards who are hurt. Lamont Butler (left shoulder), Jaxson Robinson (right wrist) and Kerr Kriisa (foot) are all on the mend.
Head coach Mark Pope is down to nine healthy scholarship players, and Saturday’s matchup in the Lone Star State will require Kentucky’s full attention, in particular on defense.
Texas freshman guard Tre Johnson is the SEC’s leading scorer. The former UK recruit is averaging more than 19 points per game for head coach Rodney Terry’s team.
Which Wildcats will be on the court to try and contain Johnson?
On Friday night, the initial SEC injury report was released for both Kentucky and Texas ahead of Saturday’s game. The injury report was updated Saturday evening, before tipoff.
Here’s the latest injury news for both the Longhorns and Wildcats before the game.
What is the latest UK basketball injury news for Butler, Robinson?
Kentucky has three players on its injury report — Butler, Kriisa and Robinson — and all are listed as out for Saturday’s game at Texas.
Given these injury issues at guard, Pope said on UK’s pregame radio show that freshman guard Travis Perry will start for the Wildcats against the Longhorns.
Butler has battled several injuries this season. He missed two games in December with an ankle injury, but it’s a left shoulder injury that is currently the big concern for Butler, who previously starred at San Diego State for four seasons.
Recently, Butler missed three straight games for Kentucky with that left shoulder injury, which was sustained during the Jan. 14 home win over Texas A&M. Butler returned last Saturday for the Cats’ home win over South Carolina, and he remained healthy enough to start again for Kentucky on Tuesday night against Tennessee.
But, with 8:40 to go in that Tennessee game, Butler reinjured his left shoulder.
Following that injury recurrence, the updates on Butler given by Pope haven’t been great. On Tuesday night, Pope said what happened with Butler’s left shoulder was “exactly what we didn’t want to do.”
During his weekly press conference Thursday afternoon, Pope said that UK is “going day by day” with Butler’s injury.
“We’re trying some different treatments,” Pope said. “We’re going to piece it together.”
Butler is averaging 12.5 points and 4.6 assists per game this season. He’s also shooting 38.5% from 3-point range and has provided important on-ball defensive pressure for Kentucky. UK entered Friday’s slate of games ranked 78th in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom.
Regarding Robinson, his injury outlook also doesn’t sound promising.
Robinson — a fifth-year guard who previously played two seasons for Pope at BYU — suffered a right wrist injury during a Kentucky practice last week, prior to the South Carolina game last weekend. Following the injury, X-ray imaging done on Robinson’s right wrist came back clean.
Robinson played through the injury in Saturday’s home win over South Carolina, but he was ruled out for UK’s Tuesday game against Tennessee. He watched Kentucky’s win over Tennessee while dressed in a gray sweatsuit on the UK bench, and while wearing a significant brace on his right wrist.
During his Thursday press conference, Pope said Robinson got a third medical opinion Wednesday regarding the right wrist injury.
“He’s meeting with the best people in the world. ... We’re kind of taking in information, trying to figure out (the) course of action, decisions to be made,” Pope said.
On Thursday, Pope was asked if Robinson’s injury was made worse by playing in that South Carolina game on Feb. 8.
“It was just like, ‘There’s no way I’m not playing in this game,’” Pope said. “I think under the circumstances he was just there. It was a quick enough turnaround from when he originally felt the injury to be like, ‘I can go gut this out.’ So I think that was just him being like, ‘There’s no way I’m missing (the game).’’’
Robinson is averaging 13.3 points per game, the second-best mark on the team behind junior guard Otega Oweh (15.9 points). Robinson is shooting 38.1% from 3-point range on significant shot volume. He’s averaging seven attempts from deep per game.
When meeting with media members Thursday, Pope didn’t mince words regarding the injuries for Butler and Robinson. The first-year Kentucky coach said both players are dealing with “pretty complicated situations.”
“Timing wise and recovery wise, and there’s also a little bit of a guessing part, in terms of just the best medical treatment at the best time,” Pope said. “They’re both pretty serious injuries. The guys are desperate to play and they’re desperate to get healthy, short-term and long-term, and kind of balancing all those out with the calendar, not just for the season but for the summer and for next year. Trying to fit all those pieces together, and see day by day what kind of returns they get from new medical treatments.”
Kriisa remains sidelined for Kentucky, as has been the case for the last two months.
The former Arizona and West Virginia guard suffered a foot injury Dec. 7 during UK’s overtime win over Gonzaga in Seattle. That injury required surgery, and Kriisa hasn’t played for UK since.
“He’s not doing anything active on the court yet,” Pope recently said of Kriisa. “But he’s doing much more active stuff in the weight room and in the training room, and so the next step is just to see what that response is like. It’s a matter of how quickly and if you can get over the soreness in that step.”
On his weekly radio show Monday, Pope said Kriisa “is still a ways away” from returning to practice for UK.
In nine games played for Kentucky this season, Kriisa has averaged 3.8 assists per contest.
SEC injury report news for Texas basketball before Kentucky game
Like UK, Texas also had three players on its Friday injury report for Saturday’s game. Junior guard Chendall Weaver and senior forward Arthur Kaluma are both out.
Sophomore forward Devon Pryor was listed as probable to play on Friday’s injury report. Pryor was removed from the injury report Saturday, which indicates that he will play against UK.
Prior to Texas’ most recent game — an embarrassing 103-80 home loss to No. 2 Alabama on Tuesday night — the Longhorns had two players listed on the pregame SEC injury report. Weaver and Pryor both missed that game with injuries.
Weaver — who is averaging 6.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per contest in 15 games (nine starts) this season — has been out with a groin injury since early January.
Kaluma — a former standout at Creighton and Kansas State — is averaging 13 points and eight rebounds per game this season, while shooting 39.7% from 3-point range. Kaluma was scoreless in 11 minutes for Texas during Tuesday’s loss to Alabama, and he won’t play on Saturday.
Pryor — who is averaging 4.1 points and 2.1 rebounds per contest in 14 games (all off the bench) this season — missed the Alabama game with a calf injury.
Saturday
No. 15 Kentucky at Texas
When: 8 p.m. EST
TV: ESPN
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 17-7 (6-5), Texas 15-10 (4-8)
Series: Kentucky leads 2-0
Last meeting: Kentucky won 63-51 on Dec. 5, 2014, in Lexington.
This story was originally published February 14, 2025 at 8:21 PM.
