Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robisnon injury update: Dick Vitale gives unfortunate news on Kentucky stars

ESPN’s Dick Vitale provided a little good news, bad news on Monday afternoon — at least for Kentucky fans.

Starting with the positive, Vitale will be on Saturday’s call in Tuscaloosa, joining Karl Ravech and Jimmy Dykes for the Alabama-Kentucky showdown. Vitale just recently returned to broadcasting and will now get a good look at two of the SEC’s top offenses.

But unfortunately, Kentucky is going to be without a couple of key guys. Vitale revealed after a conversation with Mark Pope, the UK head coach is “unsure” if both Lamont Butler and Jaxson Robinson are going to be healthy in time for the game.

“Sat. I join @karlravechespn & @CoachJimmyDykes 6 pm EST @KentuckyMBB vs @AlabamaMBB,” Vitale said via X. “Had chat with @CoachMarkPope today about his team & he is not sure when Lamont Butler & Jaxson Robinson will return from injuries. I Love Coach Pope’s positive attitude but it is a fact injuries have hurt CATS.”

Kentucky does have a game on the schedule before facing Alabama. The Wildcats will welcome Vanderbilt to Rupp Arena, hoping to get revenge on a previous loss. It’s safe to assume if neither Butler nor Robinson is likely to play against Alabama, their status against Vanderbilt is also in serious doubt.

Injuries have been a massive storyline for Kentucky in recent times. If Butler is not out on the court, there is no true point guard currently healthy. Losing somebody like Robinson has proven to be a massive loss as well, even with other players capable of scoring still being healthy.

Kentucky fell to .500 in SEC play with a loss to Texas on Saturday. The last eight games have resulted in a 3-5 record and three of the losses were against unranked opponents. Even so, Pope is not using the injuries as an excuse for the team’s performances, specifically the loss in Austin.

“We’re not leaving any space for that,” Pope said. “I have a good team. Like the guys on the court are good players, and we’re good enough to win. These guys have proven that. We just didn’t do it in the last three minutes and 45 seconds tonight.

That’s just it. It was tonight, and it’s super painful, it’s not acceptable, all those things are true. But we have the guys we need to win and we’re going to figure out a way to do it. We did it for 36 minutes, we just couldn’t do it for the last four. That’s just the truth. That’s just the fact. We’ll lean into the facts right now.”