It is one thing to play a large portion of your college basketball season with a shorthanded roster.
It’s another thing entirely to head into the most important part of the college basketball season with a shorthanded roster.
As disappointing as Kentucky’s 94-78 loss to top-ranked Auburn at Rupp Arena was on Saturday, the news that coach Mark Pope delivered after the game was even worse.
Pope said that starting shooting guard Jaxson Robinson, the team’s second-leading scorer, will have surgery on his injured wrist on Wednesday. He won’t be back to 100% until June, meaning his college career and his career as a Kentucky Wildcat are over.
And it’s March 1.
It’s a tough blow for a team that has been forced to navigate though much of the season with an ever-changing roster of availability because of multiple injuries — Kerr Kriisa’s foot surgery; Andrew Carr’s back problems; Lamont Butler’s injured shoulder.
It is true that Saturday was the fifth game that Robinson has missed this season. The Cats have dealt with his absence before. (UK is 2-3 in those five games.) Even then, there was the expectation, or hope, that the BYU transfer would return at some point. Now, that hope is gone.
“I definitely feel for Jax,” Butler said after Saturday’s loss. “It’s tough to be out for the season at this point, but we’re a resilient team and I think it’s just the next-man-up mentality.”
Even the most resilient team would have had trouble knocking off Auburn on Saturday. The nation’s No. 1 team played like the nation’s No. 1 team. Bruce Pearl’s club jumped to an early 21-8 lead and never looked back. Georgia Tech transfer Miles Kelly went 9-for-14 from 3-point territory and finished with 30 points. Chad Baker-Mazra scored 22, and freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford added 21.
