Kentucky's midweek bye comes at a perfect time, especially for Lamont Butler and Andrew Carr

Kentucky will have a week to lick its wounds following the 102-97 loss to No. 4 Alabama, and man, do the Cats need it. Not only was this their third straight game against a top-15 opponent, but two of Kentucky’s starters are playing through some significant pain.

Lamont Butler was a game-time decision after injuring his left shoulder (and other things) vs. Texas A&M on Tuesday. Andrew Carr continues to battle back issues, and it was clear from today’s matchup vs. Grant Nelson that he’s nowhere near 100%. Afterward, Mark Pope said getting healthy — or at least, healthier — will be Kentucky’s priority this week.

“We’ve got to take advantage of it,” Pope said of the mid-week bye, which the SEC introduced last season. “Everybody’s got one, and ours is probably coming at the best time for us in terms of trying to find a pathway to a little better health for our guys. I didn’t think that was the determining factor of the game tonight, but to be fresh and for our guys to get fresh and to get healthy is going to be probably key number one.”

Butler played 32 minutes, finishing with 17 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal, and just 1 turnover. Those numbers are even more impressive when you consider that he hasn’t practiced at all since Tuesday and could barely lift his left arm.

“At breakfast this morning, I saw him lift his arm a little bit. I was like, I don’t know, maybe he can go, but I thought he gave a really heroic effort and played well and we need to get him healthy as quick as we can.”

Pope went a little more in-depth during his postgame conversation with Tom Leach, also praising Butler for how he defended Mark Sears. Alabama’s star guard finished with 24 points, but on only 6-17 from the floor, proof of Butler’s defensive prowess (how about those two blocks?).

“Lamont is just a winner, man. He kind of gave us everything he had today. He hasn’t practiced, hasn’t really even moved his arm for the last two days. And we put him through the early warm-ups, and he felt like he was going to give it a shot, and then, we rolled him out there to the second warm-up and he was like, ‘No, I’m okay.’ He was kind of hiding that left arm a little bit, but what an incredibly courageous effort. Thirty-two minutes and eight assists to one turnover and a really difficult defensive assignment. It’ll be great to get him back to full speed, but man, he gave us everything he had today.”

After throwing down a dunk to put Kentucky up two at the 15:15 mark of the second half, Butler checked out and immediately put the Hyperice Venom massaging heat belt on his shoulder. During his postgame conversation with Goose Givens, he admitted he was “a little banged up,” but said he was determined to play today.

“It’s all good. I’m just out there putting my body on the line for this team, for the fans. And, I just want to go out there and play my best, play my hardest every night. So, a little banged up, but we’re trying to get healthy. We’ve got a week off, so we’re gonna just try to get healthy and be prepared to get better for this next week.”

Meanwhile, Carr only played 18 minutes due to foul trouble, scoring just four points on 1-4 from the floor and pulling down one rebound. He struggled against Grant Nelson, who finished with a game-high 25 points and 11 rebounds. In total, Alabama outrebounded Kentucky 42-38, which Pope said may have been due to fatigue or the lineups the team has been using in practice this week with Carr and Butler out.

“We don’t keep a live stat during the game on 50/50, balls, but it felt like we were just a little bit slow to the ball tonight,” he told Leach. “I’m not sure why that is. We have had a little bit of a patchwork lineup the last couple of days, and we have some guys who just desperately need to find their way back to health. I don’t know if that played a little bit of a role in it. I’m not sure.”

Time to rest up and refocus. After the midweek bye, the Cats hit the road, going to Nashville on Saturday to play Vanderbilt and Knoxville the Tuesday after for a showdown with No. 6 Tennessee.