Jaxson Robinson was 'harder on himself than everybody else' following Duke win

Jaxson Robinson didn’t have a great scoring night in a win against Duke last Tuesday. He missed all four of his shot attempts and finished with just one point in 27 minutes. Poor body language was a topic of discussion on social media. Mark Pope made sure to emphasize how great Robinson was in other areas, particularly his defense, but Kentucky won’t be able to afford many one-point outings from Robinson moving forward.

“I feel like everybody felt my frustration after the (Duke) game,” Robinson said Tuesday night after Kentucky beat Lipscomb 97-68. “Obviously I was happy that we won. It was a great win. Biggest win of my career personally. There’s always a good side to it. But just being the leader that I am, especially trying to step into that role this year, I just wanted to play better for my team. That was it.”

A great scorer finds a way to bounce back though. And that’s exactly what Robinson did after a full week off from the Duke win. Against Lipscomb, the 6-foot-7 wing poured in a season-high 20 points on 6-10 shooting (3-6 from deep) in just 22 minutes. He also grabbed seven rebounds, just one off his career-high.

“He’s back to what he does,” Kentucky guard Koby Brea said of Robinson.

But that doesn’t mean the last week was easy for Robinson. Kentucky teammates said he was getting up shots every day before and after practice since the Duke game. For someone with NBA aspirations, scoring the ball in big moments is important. But going back to Pope, he was still widely impressed with Robinson’s overall performance against the Blue Devils. Robinson allowed just two points on defense all game long. He might have been disappointed in his own individual play, but he was always eager to cheer on his teammates and keep spirits high.

“Andrew Carr gets an and-one (against Duke) and Jaxson is the first guy to be there, just like screaming and his veins are popping out of his neck and every bit of emotion is there,” Pope said following the Lipscomb win. “The ability that he has as a veteran player to stay in the moment, in the game and care about his teammates and still perform at a great level defensively even when he’s not putting up 20 or 30 (points) is a massive – it’s what you dream about coaching, right?”

Things are often not as bad as we can make them out to seem. Robinson didn’t score well against Duke, but he did everything else asked of him. Kentucky still won the game. He responded with his best outing of the season so far. Ups and downs are a natural part of the ebbs and flows of a long college basketball season. It’s all about how you respond, and Robinson found it within himself to respond at a high level.

“I think he was probably harder on himself than everybody else was,” Kentucky point guard Lamont Butler said.

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