Jaxson Robinson will be facing childhood best friend in Oklahoma's Sam Godwin

All eyes are on Jaxson Robinson, who has been upgraded to probable ahead of his homecoming matchup at Oklahoma. The Ada native last played on February 8 in the win over South Carolina, fighting through pain and grabbing at his injured wrist multiple times before ultimately sitting out the next two weeks, missing four games. His absence has been felt in a major way, Kentucky going 2-2 with the fifth-year senior on the bench — competing, but clearly missing some star power.

If he does suit up as the latest injury report suggests, don’t be surprised if he’s overly friendly with one of the Sooners’ starters. Or maybe things will get intentionally chippy? At worst, you’ll see some lighthearted banter between Robinson and Oklahoma forward Sam Godwin this evening in Norman.

Why? They’re childhood best friends, the two growing up together in Ada. Their paths were different, Robinson bouncing around from Texas A&M to Arkansas to BYU to Kentucky while Godwin started at Wofford and is finishing back home at Oklahoma, but they’ll be meeting up where it all began to close out their careers in the SEC.

“I’ve known Jaxson since the sixth grade, I played with him all through middle school,” Godwin told KSR at SEC Media Day before the season. “He was always a grade below me until he reclassified his senior year. When we got to high school, we were on the same team for two years until I transferred high schools my junior year. We played AAU together a ton. He’s been one of my best friends since the sixth grade.”

Like the good old days, whenever they get the chance to see each other, it’s like a time machine back to middle school for the two.

“I saw him earlier in the hallway, so I gave him a hug [laughs],” he said in Birmingham at the time.

Godwin says their personalities worked well together growing up because they were wired to play basketball, both pushing to suit up at the next level. When asked to share his favorite childhood memories with Robinson, he joked that their lives were limited to workouts, practice and, unsurprisingly, video games.

“Our best memories are playing Fortnite at 2 AM,” the Oklahoma forward joked.

They were teammates in middle school just starting to figure themselves out on the basketball court, then again in high school until Godwin moved an hour away to Southmoore HS in Moore — just outside of Oklahoma City — to close out his career while Robinson remained at Ada HS until he reclassified up to play at Texas A&M a year early. What has the Sooner fifth-year senior seen from the Wildcat fifth-year senior following his career in the years since? How has his game grown from when they were just two kids out of Ada?

“He’s always been an incredible shooter, but to see him now, he’s more of a three-dimensional player. He can do everything — mid-range, get to the rim,” Godwin told KSR. “The main thing I’ve seen with him is confidence. He’s always been capable of doing the things he’s doing — last year at BYU, March Madness he went crazy. He’s always been capable of those things, just needed the confidence to do it. He’s going to do huge things in the SEC and probably after (in the NBA).”

Robinson’s success is no surprise — just as it wasn’t when he made the decision to follow Mark Pope from Provo to Lexington. Godwin tried his best to lure him out of the portal this past offseason so they could team up together one last time, but knew Kentucky was the right fit for the future pro.

He spoke highly of Pope in their own conversations, and if Robinson wasn’t going to enter the draft, he knew his old friend would become a future SEC opponent in blue.

“When Jaxson went in the portal, I obviously shot him a message. He’s from Oklahoma, so I said, ‘Come on, man!’ I don’t know Coach Pope, but I know Jaxson loves him, loves the system,” he said. “It’s a great fit for him. I can’t judge him for wanting to follow Coach Pope to Kentucky.”

Whether they’re teammates or opponents on Wednesday night in Norman, Godwin just hopes they continue to inspire their hometown of Ada. If they can go from small-town teammates and friends to competing on the same floor in a nationally televised SEC basketball game, others can, too.

“We’ve always had a ton of support. The town is only 15,000 people — not that big,” Godwin said. “We always had the whole town coming to our games and supporting us. Them seeing us is inspiring the young kids there now, showing them they can do it too.”