Jaxson Robinson will have to support his teammates from the sideline the rest of the season. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Losing guard Jaxson Robinson for the rest of the season with a wrist injury is a blow to Kentucky but unfortunately it is a scenario the UK players are all too familiar with going into tonight’s game with LSU in Rupp Arena.
““It’s been like that for a lot of the games — even when Lamont (Butler) was out, Andrew (Carr) was out, we kind of rallied together for a lot of the games and ultimately got the win, especially games like Tennessee,” center Amari Williams said Monday. “It’s just going to help us grow closer than we ever have and it’s going to help us in the long run.”
Williams said Robinson would still be around the team.
“He’s still the same happy guy. Just having that around us means a lot and it’s going to go a long way,” Williams said.
Kentucky coach Mark Pope confirmed Saturday after UK’s loss to Auburn that Robinson, who played the first half of the previous game against Oklahoma, was out for the rest of the year and needed surgery on his wrist
“We’ve kind of known for a little bit (missing the rest of the year was possible),” Ansley Almonor said Monday. “Obviously, it’s pretty tough news.”
Almonor said teammates knew “how badly” Robinson wanted to finish the season with them and they are “praying for a speedy recovery” for him.
“We appreciate everything Jax has done and the fight he had to even go out there still play with essentially something torn in his shooting wrist, which isn’t easy to do,” Williams said. “We all love him and hope that he has the best recovery. We know that he’s going to be with us every step of the way.”
Robinson, UK’s second leading scorer, joins guard Kerr Kriisa on the will not play the rest of the season list for the Cats. Kriisa has been out with an ankle/foot injury since early December.
Pope confirmed Monday night on his radio show that Kriisa would not go through Senior Night ceremonies tonight since he will have another year of eligibility.
“We walked into the season thinking kKerr was going to exhaust his (college) eligibility this year but he didn’t,” Pope said. “He’s got another year left, which is so fantastic for all of us, right?”
Kriisa is already 24 years old and is not listed among the top 100 players in the upcoming NBA draft rankings. The 6-3 guard could opt to perhaps start his professional career overseas — he’s from Estonia —, or even transfer if he did want to play another year of college basketball.
“They wish they could be out there and we’ve got to make sure we don’t take anything for granted,” Almonor said. “Don’t take any opportunity for granted. Go out there and play your hardest for as long as you can because you never know when something like that could happen.”
Almonor said Robinson had become one of the team’s clear leaders and seeing his season ended has been difficult.
“You never know when your season can be over just like that, your college career is over just like that. You gotta be able to take advantage of every opportunity you have,” Almonor said.
