Kentucky basketball has been one of the most banged-up teams in the country this year as Mark Pope has been forced to tinker with different lineups throughout a brutal SEC schedule. The Wildcats have played through much of February without both Lamont Butler and Jaxson Robinson, but they have navigated that stretch nicely.
The job isn’t getting any easier for Pope and company on Saturday. Robinson has been ruled out for Kentucky’s huge game against No. 1 Auburn at Rupp Arena with a right wrist injury, according to college basketball insider Jon Rothstein.
Robinson originally missed four games with the injury before returning for Wednesday night’s game against Oklahoma. However, he played just 12 minutes before sitting for the rest of the game. Pope said afterwards that Robinson’s wrist “didn’t respond well” so it’s no surprise to see him sitting this one out.
Kentucky also got Butler back in that win over Oklahoma after the San Diego State transfer recovered from a shoulder injury. Assuming Butler, who played just 20 minutes on Wednesday, is ready for a full workload on Saturday, Kentucky will have at least one of its point guards as it tries to pull the upset.
Pope and company will need all hands on deck for Kentucky to beat an Auburn team that has pretty clearly established itself as the best in college basketball this season. Bruce Pearl and the Tigers have been a machine that has absolutely rolled through the toughest non-conference slate in the country and then the best conference schedule of any league. In order for the Wildcats to pull the upset, they will need to play one of their best games of the season.
Getting a victory will be much tougher without Robinson, who is the team’s second-leading. scorer with 13 points per game. Leading scorer Otega Oweh will have to pick up the slack like he did in a 28-point masterpiece to beat the Sooners on Wednesday.
If this Kentucky basketball team is able to get this win, it will be a massive boost for its NCAA Tournament seeding. Pope’s squad is currently battling hard for one of the protected, top-four seeds in the bracket, but its high volume of conference losses could be keeping it out of that spot at the moment.
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