Jaxson Robinson will undergo season-ending wrist surgery next week

Kentucky will be without Jaxson Robinson for the rest of the season. Mark Pope just announced that Robinson will undergo surgery on his right wrist next week, ending his career as a Kentucky Wildcat. Recovery is expected to take three months.

“Jax is — we kind of came to the final conclusion last night that he’s going to get surgery,” Pope said after Kentucky’s loss to Auburn. “So he’s going Wednesday to the world specialist to have surgery on his wrist. He’s got a torn sub-sheath to his ECU tendon. And so what’s happening is, it’s slipping out, and when he went down, we kind of knew that he was going to need surgery, but he just wanted so badly to play that he rehabbed it and had an injection to try and make it functional.”

Robinson initially injured his wrist during practice on Friday, Feb. 10, the day before the Tennessee game in Rupp Arena, colliding with teammate Brandon Garrison during practice. He sat out four games and tried to return in Kentucky’s game at Oklahoma this past Wednesday, sitting out the second half with his wrist on ice. Pope said that after doctors examined Robinson’s wrist, they discovered more damage.

“And then he was doing okay and then he went down the first half at Oklahoma, so, it’s in a groove, and there’s a sheath around it that holds it in place, and that’s just ripped, just that the distal side of it is just ripped a little bit. And so now it’s coming out of the groove. And after the hit, it actually relocated a little more, and there’s just no way that he’s gonna be able to play.

“So, the good news is that he’ll go have the surgery with literally the world’s number one surgeon doing this particular procedure and it’s a three-month to 100% full recovery. So he’ll be good to go the first of June, the end of May, and continue on with his great basketball career.”

Robinson averaged 13.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.7 assists this season, playing in 24 games. He scored a season-high 27 points in Kentucky’s win at Mississippi State on Jan. 11, hitting seven threes. Robinson started his career at Texas A&M, playing one season before transferring to Arkansas and eventually BYU, where he played two seasons under Mark Pope. Last summer, he decided to withdraw his name from the NBA Draft to follow Mark Pope to Kentucky.

A UK spokesperson says Robinson is expected to participate in Kentucky’s Senior Night ceremonies on Tuesday prior to the LSU game before leaving to have surgery on Wednesday. I’m sure he’ll get quite an ovation from the Big Blue Nation for his efforts this season. I keep flashing back to a conversation I had with him and Mark Pope for a feature I wrote on him in December.

“It’s been such a beautiful journey,” Pope said. “It’s just been so incredible to watch him grow, right? You just kind of get to bear witness to him grow.”

“Being able to play for a coach who believed in me, even when I wasn’t at the top,” Jaxson trailed off. “It’s been really cool just to be with a great guy, a great coach, like Coach Pope.”

Get well soon, Jaxson.