Lamont Butler and Jaxson Robinson returned for UK basketball at Oklahoma. How did it go?
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Game day: No. 17 Kentucky 83, Oklahoma 82
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Wednesday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Oklahoma in Norman, Okla.
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Amid the multitude of storylines that emerged during No. 17 Kentucky basketball’s 83-82 road win at Oklahoma on Wednesday night, it was perhaps the biggest news at the beginning of the night — the returns of fifth-year guards Lamont Butler and Jaxson Robinson from injury — that became the most buried.
The Wildcats’ last-second win over the Sooners had seemingly everything: a sensational scoring night from Otega Oweh against his former school, a chaotic final sequence for Kentucky and a myriad of players on both sides taking on former teammates.
But something that can’t be lost in the shuffle is the return of Kentucky’s experienced guards, and how the night went for each player.
Both Butler and Robinson were initially listed as probable to play in Wednesday’s game on the first edition of Kentucky’s SEC injury report, which came out Tuesday night. By Wednesday night, both players were removed from the report.
On UK’s pregame radio show, head coach Mark Pope confirmed that both Butler and Robinson would play and start.
“We’re going to play them. They’ve been cleared, and we’re going to play them and just see how it goes,” Pope said ahead of the game. “We’ll all kind of hold our breath for the first hits, but they practiced the last two days. They increasingly (got) more and more confident and they’re both feeling good and so we’ll let them run.”
This was Butler’s first appearance for the Cats after missing three consecutive games with a left shoulder injury that he originally suffered in a victory over Texas A&M on Jan. 14. He also missed three earlier games with the same injury. For Robinson, this was his first game after spending four straight contests on the sidelines with a right wrist injury that was first suffered during practice on Feb. 7.
Lamont Butler returns, and fouls out, for Kentucky
Butler started Wednesday’s win, but he wasn’t on the court at the end.
In 20 minutes, Butler 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 has been charged with five fouls in a game for the Wildcats. UK lost the previous two, to Ohio State in New York City and at Vanderbilt.
Butler’s individual plus-10 mark was the best of any player in the game.
Butler wore a significant brace on his left shoulder during Wednesday’s game, but he appeared to weather contact taken to that part of his body fairly well. Oklahoma’s offense tried to get Butler involved in screening actions, often with 6-foot-10 fifth-year forward Sam Godwin and 6-foot-11 redshirt sophomore forward Luke Northweather crashing into the 6-foot-2 Butler.
But Butler rode those challenges well. Even in the moments when Butler fell to the floor, he quickly jumped back up without showing any signs of reinjuring his left shoulder, which he did in a home win over Tennessee on Feb. 11.
Butler made one of his two shots from the field against the Sooners, and he went 5-for-5 from the free-throw line.
Jaxson Robinson didn’t play in the second half at Oklahoma
Robinson, an Oklahoma native, only played in 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.
While in the game, Robinson played with his right wrist taped. But after he emerged from the halftime break, Robinson’s wrist was completely wrapped while he sat on the UK bench. Robinson was observed by the Herald-Leader grasping at his right wrist while on the bench and he was intentionally giving out high-fives to his teammates with his left hand.
While Robinson was officially designated by UK as “questionable” to return in the second half of Wednesday’s game, it was clear that he wasn’t healthy enough to play again in what became UK’s third road win of the season.
Mark Pope gives injury updates on Butler, Robinson
After the game, there was plenty for Pope to parse through when discussing Kentucky’s much-needed win over the Sooners.
This included providing injury updates on Butler, Robinson and fifth-year forward Andrew Carr, who started his third consecutive game against Oklahoma as Carr continues to progress from a back injury.
On Robinson:
“Jax’s wrist, it didn’t respond great tonight,” Pope said. “So we’ll see how that is going forward.”
On Carr, who had seven points and three rebounds in 19 minutes:
“I think Andrew’s doing OK. I think he’s OK.”
And on Butler:
“I think Lamont is OK. We’ll see. For us moving forward, it’s always the morning after that we’re going to know a lot more.”
As far as the process of choosing to play Butler and Robinson against Oklahoma, Pope pointed to the steadily increasing health of each player. Earlier this week during his weekly radio show, Pope said Butler and Robinson both participated in Kentucky’s practice on Monday.
“They were actually pretty functional in the limited work they did today, and, certainly, they are both on the uptick,” Pope said Monday. “We’re hopeful about both of them.”
Fast forward to Wednesday night in Norman, and Pope said Butler has been tracking toward a return to game action for some time.
“Lamont’s been actually pretty good the last week, 10 days maybe, back to where he was before we threw him out last time,” Pope said Wednesday. “So we were just in this waiting space where it’s just like, ‘He’s moving great.’ The limited movement on the court, you might notice, is because his brace (on Butler’s left shoulder) is so tight right now, trying to keep him together.”
How both players, and in particular Robinson, respond from their injuries will dictate how much Kentucky can ask of each guard going forward. The Wildcats have three more regular-season games left before the postseason, starting with a home matchup against No. 1 Auburn on Saturday in Lexington.
Fellow fifth-year guard Kerr Kriisa was out again for Kentucky for the Oklahoma game. This marked the 19th consecutive game Kriisa has missed for the Cats this season. Kriisa suffered a fractured foot in a win over Gonzaga on Dec. 7 that necessitated surgery. He has not yet returned to practice.
Prior to Wednesday’s game at Oklahoma, the Herald-Leader watched Kriisa put up shots for at least 30 minutes. Kriisa has only played in nine games for UK this season, and a medical redshirt has been floated as a possibility for the Estonian, who previously played at Arizona and West Virginia.
This story was originally published February 27, 2025 at 2:29 AM.
