Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robinson, Kerr Kriisa injury updates: Kentucky learns status of guards vs. Texas

Kentucky is in some trouble injury-wise heading into their showdown with Texas on Saturday, as Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robinson and Kerr Kriisa will be out, according to the SEC’s latest injury report.

“Kentucky is expected to be without all 3 of its point guards today at Texas: Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robinson and Kerr Kriisa all listed as out on the SEC injury report,” Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68 posted on X.

It’s certainly not the news Wildcats fans were hoping to hear before the team’s 8 p.m. ET showdown at the Moody Center. The clash will represent the first meeting between the two teams since the Longhorns joined the SEC in July last year.

Still, Kentucky has bounced back and is on a two-game win streak, after losing back-to-back games against Arkansas and Ole Miss. Most recently, the ‘Cats secured a season sweep over Tennessee, with a 75-64 win over the Volunteers on Tuesday.

Unlike Kentucky, February hasn’t been kind to the Longhorns. Texas has lost three straight games and will be hungry to pick up a win on Saturday. Evidently, oddsmakers expect the Longhorns’ desperation to play a factor against the Wildcats.

According to FanDuel, Texas is a 1.5-point favorite against Kentucky. The Longhorns are -125 on the money line and over/under is set at 157.5 points.

If both teams produce their usual offensive output, they’ll easily hit the over. Texas is averaging 78.6 points per game while UK is averaging 86.3, the third-most in the nation. On Saturday, oddsmakers seemingly expect Texas to slow down Kentucky’s explosive offense.

As for ESPN’s BPI,a model designed to provide a statistical comparison between two teams and predict future success, it agrees with FanDuel, expecting Texas to escape with a narrow victory. Kentucky-Texas boasts the fifth-highest BPI matchup quality of all college basketball games on Saturday.

On the other hand, KenPom is another predictive system for college basketball. It’s designed to show how strong a team is at a given time, without taking factors like injuries into account. Unlike Las Vegas, KenPom projects Kentucky to pull out the victory over the Longhorns.

All the prediction will be thrown out the window on Saturday though, and fans can catch the highly-anticipated showdown between Kentucky and Texas on ESPN at 8 p.m. ET. They can also stream the SEC Showdown on FuboTV.

Texas will have the homecourt advantage over UK as the two teams face off in the Moody Center, which holds approximately 15,000 people. The Wildcats can expect to be in front of a full house on Saturday.

— On3’s Grant Grubbs contributed to this article.