Lamont Butler and Jaxson Robinson are both out for Kentucky basketball against Vanderbilt
For the second time this season, Kentucky men’s basketball is set to face a repeat opponent.
Earlier this month, UK was able to complete a two-game rivalry sweep over Tennessee. This time out, revenge will be on the minds of the Wildcats.
No. 17 Kentucky (17-8 overall, 6-6 in SEC) will host Vanderbilt (17-8, 5-7) on Wednesday night in Rupp Arena. In the teams’ previous meeting this season, Vanderbilt upset then-No. 9 Kentucky on Jan. 25 in Nashville.
But Mark Pope’s roster of available UK players will look a lot different Wednesday night against the Commodores than it did for that meeting last month.
That’s because UK still has a trio of fifth-year guards out injured.
The full scope of Kentucky’s current injury situation was first revealed Tuesday night, when the initial SEC injury report was released for both Kentucky and Vanderbilt ahead of Wednesday’s game. The injury report was updated Wednesday evening.
Here’s the injury news for UK and Vandy.
Kentucky basketball injury news for Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robinson
On Tuesday night’s SEC injury report, all three of Kentucky’s injured fifth-year guards were ruled out for the Vanderbilt game. None of Lamont Butler, Kerr Kriisa or Jaxson Robinson will play for the Wildcats.
That trio of Butler, Kriisa and Robinson were all also sidelined for UK’s most recent game, Saturday’s 82-78 loss at Texas that featured a loss of composure and execution by the Wildcats down the stretch.
Given these injury issues at guard, freshman Travis Perry started at the point for the Wildcats against the Longhorns over the weekend. Expect Perry to again get the starting nod against the Commodores on Wednesday.
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 has posed the biggest threat to Butler, who previously starred at San Diego State for four seasons.
Over the last six weeks, Butler has missed four games for UK due to that left shoulder injury, which was sustained during the Jan. 14 home win over Texas A&M.
Butler’s recent return to the court after sitting out three games due to the injury was short-lived. Last week, Butler reinjured his left shoulder in the second half of UK’s home win over Tennessee.
Pope’s updates on Butler following the recurrence of that injury haven’t been positive.
The most recent news delivered by Pope regarding Butler’s status came during Pope’s weekly radio show Monday night. On that program, Pope said Butler is moving around well, but he’s still progressing toward being able to take contact and return to live practice.
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 Tuesday night’s slate of games ranked 76th in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom.
During Kentucky’s previous game this season against Vanderbilt on Jan. 25, Butler tied his career-high with six turnovers.
Regarding Robinson, his injury outlook also isn’t encouraging.
Robinson — who previously played two seasons for Pope at BYU — suffered a right wrist injury during a Kentucky practice this month, just before a home win over South Carolina on Feb. 8.
Following the injury, X-ray imaging done on Robinson’s right wrist came back clean, and Robinson played through the injury in that South Carolina game. But, Robinson has been sidelined for UK’s last two games, the home win over Tennessee and the road loss at Texas.
Last week, Pope said that Robinson — who is averaging 13.3 points per game, the second-best mark on the UK team — has gotten three medical opinions on the right wrist injury.
On his radio show Monday night, Pope said Robinson isn’t practicing with UK. Pope also said Robinson is doing a lot of left-handed work.
When meeting with reporters last Thursday afternoon in Lexington, Pope conveyed the severity of the injury situations for Butler and Robinson.
“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 is still out for UK. His foot injury has now kept him on the sideline for more than 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.”
Pope also recently said that Kriisa “is still a ways away” from returning to UK practice.
On his weekly radio show Monday night, Pope said Kriisa could qualify for a medical redshirt. Kriisa has played in only nine games for UK this season, and he’s averaged 3.8 assists per contest.
What is SEC injury report news for Vanderbilt basketball?
On Tuesday night’s SEC injury report, Vanderbilt sixth-year guard Alex Hemenway was ruled out for the Kentucky game.
Last time out, the Commodores lost at then-No. 5 Tennessee, 81-76, on Saturday. Vanderbilt led that game by 13 points at halftime. The only player for Vanderbilt on the injury report before that game was Hemenway, who was also ruled as out.
Hemenway — who previously played five seasons at Clemson — is yet to play for Vanderbilt this season. On Jan. 15, Byington said that Hemenway “will be out for a while.” Hemenway last played in a college basketball game on Nov. 24, 2023.
Wednesday
Vanderbilt at No. 17 Kentucky
When: 7 p.m.
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Vanderbilt 17-8 (5-7), Kentucky 17-8 (6-6)
Series: Kentucky leads 157-50
Last meeting: Vanderbilt won 74-69 on Jan. 25, 2025, in Nashville, Tennessee
This story was originally published February 18, 2025 at 8:15 PM.
