Kerr Kriisa, Jaxson Robinson are out for UK basketball for home game against Auburn
Saturday will be a spectacle inside Rupp Arena.
No. 1 Auburn (26-2 overall and 14-1 in SEC games) is set to visit No. 17 Kentucky (19-9, 8-7) in a highly anticipated afternoon showdown as the SEC regular season winds to a close.
The Tigers haven’t won in Lexington since January 1988, but Bruce Pearl’s group is having a historically good season and is closing in on the conference’s regular-season championship. A win over Mark Pope’s Wildcats on Saturday would go a long way toward confirming that crown.
On the other side, Kentucky is in search of its 10th Quad 1 victory of the season and hoping to find some consistency on the court as the postseason nears. UK is currently in a race to secure a top-eight seed in the SEC Tournament, which would mean the Cats wouldn’t have to play until the second round of the event.
Wednesday’s last-second win over Oklahoma was a positive step in this pursuit. A win against Auburn would be monumental leap in this direction.
As preparation continues for Saturday’s showdown between Auburn and Kentucky, some major news arrived Friday night with the release of the SEC injury report. That report was updated Saturday morning, before tipoff.
Pope’s team has plenty of injury news to dive into, with fifth-year guards Lamont Butler and Jaxson Robinson at the top of that list.
What is UK basketball’s injury outlook for Auburn game?
On UK’s injury report, fifth-year guards Kerr Kriisa and Jaxson Robinson are both listed as out.
This means Butler will play against Auburn.
Butler, a fifth-year guard who previously was a standout player at San Diego State, made his return to the Kentucky lineup during Wednesday night’s win at Oklahoma.
Back on Jan. 14, Butler suffered a left shoulder injury during UK’s home win over Texas A&M. He missed three straight games with that injury, returned for Kentucky, then reinjured his left shoulder in Kentucky’s home win over Tennessee on Feb. 1. After missing three more consecutive games due to that shoulder injury, Butler was back against the Sooners.
Butler played 20 minutes against Oklahoma and had seven points, six assists, four rebounds and three turnovers. He fouled out of the game with 4:16 remaining, which marked the third time this season that Butler fouled out for the Wildcats.
Butler led all players in the Oklahoma game with an individual plus-10 mark, which was achieved while he wore a significant brace on his left shoulder.
“I think Lamont is OK,” Pope said after the game Wednesday night. “We’ll see. For us moving forward, it’s always the morning after that we’re going to know a lot more.”
On Friday afternoon during his pre-Auburn press conference, Pope provided an update on the health status of several UK players, starting with Butler.
“Lamont came out great,” Pope said.
And during UK’s pregame radio show on Saturday, Pope said Butler hasn’t had any setbacks in his most recent return from the left shoulder injury.
Butler’s point-of-attack defense would be a huge boost to Kentucky’s chances of upsetting Auburn. The Tigers will enter Saturday’s game with the most efficient offense in college basketball during the KenPom era, with that website’s data going back to the 1996-97 season.
Robinson, who also returned from a lengthy injury absence for UK against Oklahoma, will be out for Saturday’s game against Auburn.
Robinson — a fifth-year guard who is an Oklahoma native and who previously played for Pope at BYU — suffered a right wrist injury during practice on Feb. 7. While Robinson played the next day in a home win over South Carolina, Robinson then missed four straight contests for the Cats before returning against Oklahoma.
He played in only the first half against the Sooners. In 12 minutes of first-half action, Robinson had seven points on 3-for-7 shooting from the field and 1-for-5 shooting on 3-pointers. Robinson also had two steals and one assist.
Robinson played in the game with his right wrist taped, but after halftime Robinson’s wrist was completely wrapped while he sat on the UK bench. He made it a point to only use his left hand when giving out high-fives to teammates.
“Jax’s wrist, it didn’t respond great tonight,” Pope said after the Oklahoma game. “So we’ll see how that is going forward.”
On Friday, Pope repeated that Robinson didn’t come out well injury-wise following the Oklahoma game.
Robinson is still second on the UK team in scoring with 13.0 points per game. He’s also shooting 37.6% on 3-pointers.
Andrew Carr, a fifth-year forward who previously played two seasons each at Delaware and Wake Forest, continues to round into form following a back injury that caused him to miss his first college game against a Division I opponent earlier this year.
Carr has now started three straight games for the Wildcats, averaging 11.7 points and 3.7 rebounds in 23 minutes played over that stretch.
Against Oklahoma, Carr had seven points and three rebounds in 19 minutes. Carr didn’t play in the final 3:36 of that game.
“Andrew Carr came out really well,” Pope said Friday about Carr’s health.
Amari Williams, a fifth-year center who previously played at Drexel, also appears to have come out well following the Oklahoma game.
Early in that contest, Williams appeared to injure his right foot. He was down on the court for some time with that injury but returned to the game after doing some baseline sprints to test the stability of his lower right leg.
“Amari seems like he had a decent day yesterday, we’ll know more about him today,” Pope said Friday.
Williams ultimately played 19 minutes against the Sooners, scoring eight points and grabbing three rebounds while battling foul trouble.
He also had a key postgame impact, as it was Williams who ushered away UK sophomore center Brandon Garrison from a small fracas after Garrison had one of his best games as a Wildcat.
Neither Carr nor Williams was listed on the UK injury report.
With Kriisa listed as out on Kentucky’s injury report, it means the fifth-year guard will miss his 20th consecutive game for the Wildcats.
Kriisa suffered a fractured foot in a win over Gonzaga on Dec. 7 that necessitated surgery.
Prior to Wednesday’s game, Kriisa put up shots in the Lloyd Noble Center for at least 30 minutes. But the Herald-Leader has been told that shooting has been the extent of Kriisa’s on-court work in recent UK practices.
Kriisa, who is from Estonia, has played in only nine games for UK this season, and a medical redshirt has been floated as a possibility for the former Arizona and West Virginia player. But the Herald-Leader has also been told UK still isn’t sure Kriisa would return to college for another season.
Who is on the SEC injury report from Auburn basketball?
There are no players listed on Auburn’s injury report.
Prior to Auburn’s midweek game — a Wednesday night romp over Ole Miss — only one of Pearl’s players was listed on the final SEC injury report. Senior guard Chad Baker-Mazara was a game-time decision for the Ole Miss game, but he ultimately started and played 29 minutes. Baker-Mazara — who is one of six Auburn players averaging double-digit scoring per game — had 22 points and made four 3-pointers in Wednesday’s win over Ole Miss.
This story was originally published February 28, 2025 at 8:15 PM.
