Kentucky men’s basketball coach Mark Pope offers positive injury update on Lamont Butler
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SEC Tournament game day: Alabama 99, Kentucky 70
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Friday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Alabama in the Southeastern Conference Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Kentucky basketball secured its first SEC Tournament win since 2022 early Friday morning with a buzzer-beating 85-84 triumph over Oklahoma. But it came at a cost.
During the first half of 6 seed Kentucky’s win over 14 seed Oklahoma in the second round of the SEC Tournament, UK fifth-year guard Lamont Butler reinjured his left shoulder.
Butler — Kentucky’s starting point guard and a key point-of-attack defender for the Wildcats — reinjured his left shoulder while driving to the basket midway through the first half. Butler originally injured his left shoulder during a Kentucky home win over Texas A&M on Jan. 14, and has missed six full games since then due to that part of his body.
Now, he will miss a seventh.
Butler was ruled out for Friday night’s SEC Tournament quarterfinal between Kentucky and 3 seed Alabama on UK’s Friday night injury report, which was released a couple hours before the game was set to begin. UK and Alabama are playing the late game of the Friday night session at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, with tipoff scheduled for 9:30 p.m. EDT (8:30 p.m. CDT local time).
The good news for Kentucky is that it doesn’t appear that Butler’s injury will be season-ending.
During UK’s pregame radio program, Kentucky coach Mark Pope said the Wildcats received “the best possible news” about Butler given his injury recurrence.
“He’s going to be in good shape, but we’re going to sit him tonight, just to make sure,” Pope said Friday. “It probably would be a stretch to get him tonight (against Alabama) because he’s got some soreness. But it was really good news this morning. So we look forward to having him as we move forward.”
Prior to Friday’s game between Alabama and Kentucky, the SEC Network reported that the injury Butler suffered against Oklahoma was different from the previous left shoulder injury that he was dealing with.
In addition to Butler’s absence, Pope’s team will be without two other fifth-year guards in Kerr Kriisa and Jaxson Robinson against Alabama. Both Kriisa (foot) and Robinson (right wrist) are out for the rest of the season.
After leaving the Oklahoma game on Thursday night with a recurrence of his left shoulder injury, Butler underwent X-ray imaging in the UK locker room. He was initially listed as questionable to return to that game, before Kentucky ruled him out for the rest of the game during the second half.
The Cats knocked off the Sooners on a buzzer-beating shot by junior guard Otega Oweh, who previously spent two seasons with the OU program.
The excitement of that moment — which marked Oweh’s second buzzer-beating shot against the Sooners this season and Pope’s first postseason win as the UK coach — was somewhat subdued by the apparent severity of Butler’s injury.
Postgame, plenty of Wildcats touched on the emotions of seeing Butler — who also missed two games in December with an ankle injury — get hurt again.
“I’m praying like crazy — I will be — that (Butler) can find his way back on the floor at some point this year,” Pope said postgame. “It just doesn’t seem fair. And this is not a fair game. I’m not saying that. But, man, I would like so badly for him to be able to step on a court again. We’ll see how it goes. We’ll see.”
Butler is in his final season of college eligibility. He previously played four seasons at San Diego State, and hit a game-winning shot in the 2023 Final Four to lift the Aztecs to the NCAA Tournament championship game.
“It’s kind of the way we’ve been all season. You’ve just got to be able to respond to adversity and figure out a way to get wins,” fifth-year UK forward Andrew Carr said. “... As much as it stinks for those guys to go down, it has allowed our younger guys to be able to get a little bit more experience. And so we have full confidence in them. They come ready to go every single day and they’ve been continuing to get better and better throughout the season.”
“It’s pretty devastating,” added UK freshman guard Collin Chandler. “But I think that he can still have an impact in that way, in talking to us every chance that he gets. Timeouts and everything. He’s still going to be helpful. Lamont is a leader on this team. So we’ll still need him every bit of the way.”
With the trio of Butler, Kriisa and Robinson currently all sidelined, Kentucky’s point guard responsibilities will primarily fall to a combination of Chandler, fellow freshman Travis Perry and fifth-year center Amari Williams.
Chandler has seen a glut of playing time in recent games for UK: He’s averaging 17.5 minutes played over Kentucky’s last four contests.
Perry previously started for UK in Butler’s place earlier this season. Prior to Friday’s game against Alabama, Pope told the pregame UK radio show that Perry would start against the Crimson Tide.
Pope said Perry gives UK “more fluidity” on the offensive end to start the game, and that starting Perry allows for the Wildcats to maintain their normal rotation patterns.
Williams, a versatile 7-footer with advanced ball-handling and passing abilities, will also be asked to shoulder more playmaking duties.
This will come in addition to the scoring punch offered by Kentucky’s off-ball guards. Oweh and fifth-year guard Koby Brea combined for 49 points in UK’s win over Oklahoma.
Alabama basketball injury report for SEC Tournament game against UK
Alabama, which earned a double bye into Friday’s SEC Tournament quarterfinal against Kentucky, had three players listed on its injury report for the game.
Both graduate student guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. and senior guard Houston Mallette were listed out. Freshman forward Derrion Reid was initially listed as questionable.
Wrightsell ruptured an Achilles tendon during a game against Oregon on Nov. 30 and is out for the rest of the season. Mallette, who had initially planned to redshirt the 2024-25 season due to lingering knee injuries, has appeared in only six games for the Crimson Tide this season, and none since early January.
In Friday night’s updated injury report, Alabama listed Reid as a game time decision to play.
Reid has played in 18 games, with three starts, for the Crimson Tide this season. He’s averaging 7.1 points and 3.2 rebounds in 16.3 minutes per contest.
Reid hasn’t played for Alabama since Feb. 15 while dealing with a hamstring injury.
“Derrion was able to practice in some limited capacity,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said Wednesday. “But wasn’t doing 5-on-5 stuff. Provided he has another good day tomorrow morning at practice, he will hopefully be cleared to play for the week, which would be great. Give us a little more depth if we’re fortunate enough to be playing three games in a row.”
This story was originally published March 14, 2025 at 7:36 PM.
