Lamont Butler, right, might be limited to cheering for several more games because of his shoulder injury. (Vicky Graff Photo)
How much longer will point guard Lamont Butler be out with his shoulder injury?
He’s missed the last two games and Kentucky’s defense was lacking in Saturday’s 89-79 loss to Arkansas when the Razorbacks could drive to the rim repeatedly.
Kentucky coach Mark Pope said he was “not sure” about Butler’s status for upcoming games.
“We are trying to just navigate the space. There’s a lot to it because I’m not going to share because it’s his stuff. We are trying to figure out how to proceed right now,” Pope said after the loss. “We will see.
“I would tell you more, but we just really genuinely don’t know yet. We’ll figure out more in the next couple of weeks. I would assume at some point we are going to take another shot at this and see how it goes and we will kind of play it by ear.”
Not exactly optimistic when the coach mentions taking another shot in the next couple of weeks with Butler. However, he’s not been himself.
In the last four games he’s played, he was 12 of 36 from the field, including 5-for-13 from 3-point range. He had six turnovers against both Texas A&M and Vanderbilt, way above his average. He did have 25 assists even though he had just two in his last game against Vanderbilt.
He played 121 minutes in those four games, an average of 30.2 minutes per game. He’s not only UK’s best perimeter defender but he’s also the player who can handle pressure and initiate the offense.
The problem is the shoulder needs to be fully healthy when he comes back because of the physical beating he takes, especially when he runs into screens and the shoulder will take big hits.
Kentucky did get Andrew Carr back off his back injury but he managed only 15 minutes. He went 1-for-4 from the field with four rebounds, one assist, and one turnover.
“I thought Andrew made some steps forward tonight. I was proud of him. It’s the first time he ever had any contact in the game where you could feel his presence a little bit,” Pope said.
Of course, that doesn’t help figure out the guard rotation with Butler and backup point guard Kerr Kriisa still out with a broken foot.
“Normally I’ve gone to sub one of these three guards out to start the rotation earlier. There was a little bit of high intensity to this game but it was a little bit slower pace-wise. I thought we could withstand it. I probably needed to start that rotation a little bit earlier. It did feel like we ended up with three tired guys all at the same time, that’s hard,” he said referring to Jaxson Robinson, Koby Brea, and Otega Oweh.
Pope believes every SEC team is dealing with injuries and lineup issues — Tennessee had two starters out but beat Florida by 20 points after losing to UK earlier in the week when the Cats had Butler, Carr, and Kriisa out.
“It’s a challenge for us, certainly, but it’s a challenge for everybody,” Pope said.
Freshman Trent Noah had five points, including a key 3-pointer, in the win at Tennessee. He did not play against Arkansas.
“Trent is actually super interesting to me. With Drew (Carr) coming back and Ansley (Almonor) playing so well, I wonder if there is some space for Trent, actually at the three and I think that is something to explore,” Pope said.
“As we kind of reconfigure everything we are doing right now on the fly, he’s played well and there’s definitely space for him and it’s my job to find the right space.”
Yet with that said Pope could not “find the right space” for Noah against Arkansas even with the struggles the Cats were having.
2 Responses
"Havent seen him!"………
A difficult situation to be sure, but one being addressed with care about Butler’s recovery as it should. Believe that the fam base staying strongly supportive to the team can be powerful medicine for everyone. Second half last night was inspiring, but just too large a deficit to overcome.