Mark Pope reacts to Lamont Butler's return from injury: 'We just taped him up and rolled him out there'

Kentucky‘s lineup against South Carolina was the healthiest the Wildcats have been in weeks, which led to an 80-57 victory over the Gamecocks inside Rupp Arena on Saturday.

Seeing Lamont Butler return to the lineup after missing multiple games, the UK starting point guard played 23 minutes while scoring eight points and three assists during the winning effort. Despite falling under his season average in both categories, Kentucky head coach Mark Pope believes his veteran point guard played a pivotal role during the win.

“It very much helped us having [Butler] back,” Pope told the media after the win. “Just his presence — we just taped him up and rolled him out there. His presence really helped us, for sure.”

Before the game, it was also noted that Jaxson Robinson, Kentucky’s second-leading scorer, was a game-time-decision after sustaining an injury during practice on Friday.

He played through the injury, but like Butler didn’t have his best scoring output of the season. He finished with six points, but made his presence felt elsewhere on the stat sheet, hauling in five rebounds and dishing out four assists during the contest.

Playing a vital role in Pope’s rotation, Kentucky has turned to Robinson at times to play the point guard position at times during Butler’s absence. When Butler was on the bench for some rest, Pope was able to slot Robinson into that spot for pivotal moments during the effort.

“We have a real comfort level with [Robinson] to a point now that we didn’t have before because he’s been there 40 minutes a game for the last four games, right? That helps us,” Pope said of Robinson playing the point. “It gives us a little bit more leeway with how we work the rotation. I’d just like to get those two guys healthy, so it’s nice to have them on the floor. That’s step one.”

With Andrew Carr‘s minutes still limited as he deals with his back issues, Kentucky hasn’t been completely healthy since the Dec. 7 win against Gonzaga when Kerr Kriisa injured his foot against the Bulldogs.

That means the three main ball-handling guards on Kentucky’s roster are either not cleared for action, or are dealing with an injury and are not 100%.

The Wildcats host No. 4 Tennessee up next on Tuesday night, and will hope to be rested and as healthy as they can as the vengence-seeking Vols looking to get their win back after UK beat them inside the Food City Center last month. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET live on ESPN.