Kentucky basketball injury updates: Mark Pope describes health of team as a 'mixed bag'

Kentucky has been dealing with a myriad of injuries over the past couple of weeks, and Mark Pope provided an update on players like Jaxson Robinson, Andrew Carr, Lamont Butler and Amari Williams on Friday.

According to Pope, their health is all over the place at the moment, but he didn’t seem overly concerned about any of his players. The Wildcats are hoping to solidify their health at the moment, as they’ll face their toughest test of the regular season, squaring off against No. 1 Auburn at 1 p.m. ET. 

“Lamont came out great. Jaxson’s not quite so great. Andrew Carr came out really well. Amari seemed like he had a decent day yesterday. We’ll know more about him today,” Pope explained, while speaking with the media. “So, a little bit of a mixed bag.”

All told, Robinson, Carr and Butler played together for the first time since the Wildcats’ 80-57 win over South Carolina on Feb. 8 earlier this week, when Kentucky defeated Oklahoma. The reunion was short-lived though, as Robinson didn’t play in the second half due to his wrist injury aggravating him.

Nonetheless, the other two finished the game and ultimately boosted the Wildcats to a nail-biting 83-82 victory over the Sooners. All in all, Robinson finished the game with seven points and two steals, despite not playing in the second half. Then, Butler played a combined 39 minutes to collectively record 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists on 3-5 shooting.

Moreover, Butler wore a large shoulder brace in the win. He’s missed eight games this season due to the injury. In comparison, Carr has been able to play through his back issues most of the time. The Wake Forest transfer has only missed one game this season.

Although Robinson, Carr and Butler helped Kentucky pick up a win against the Sooners, it was Otega Oweh who carried the team to victory. Oweh, who transferred to Kentucky this past offseason after spending two years at Oklahoma, scored 21 of the Wildcats’ final 23 points.

His jaw-dropping run was capped off by a game-winning bucket in traffic with six seconds left in the game. After the victory, Pope raved about Oweh’s clutch performance, stating he was “absolutely terrific.”

All told, a victory over Auburn would be huge for Mark Pope and Kentucky, but it certainly won’t be an easy thing to accomplish. We’ll see if they can get the job done on Saturday afternoon, in a game that should be a doozy.

— On3’s Grant Grubbs contributed to this article.