Kentucky teammates prepare to play for Jaxson Robinson: "Don't take any opportunity for granted."

When Jaxson Robinson was forced to miss the second half at Oklahoma with the wrist injury that had kept him out for the majority of February, his Kentucky teammates had a feeling bad news was on the horizon. There was hope he could play through it or they’d find a workaround, but after further damage was found and it became clear the tear would require surgery, they knew his time playing college basketball was likely over.

“I don’t think it was too long before they announced it — I think a day or two before,” Amari Williams said of when the team learned Robinson was out for the year. “… After the Oklahoma game, it was definitely tough because we could see it. It was affecting him.”

“Basically after the Oklahoma game, to be honest. We’ve kind of known for a little bit (missing the rest of the year was possible),” Ansley Almonor added. “Obviously, it’s pretty tough news.”

Pope announced Robinson’s collegiate career was over following Kentucky’s loss to Auburn, surgery scheduled for Wednesday after doctors determined ‘there’s just no way that he’s gonna be able to play.’

“It’s a three-month to 100 percent full recovery,” Pope said, adding Robinson’s operation would be done by ‘literally the world’s number one surgeon.’ “He’ll be good to go the first of June, the end of May, and continue on with his great basketball career.”

As you can probably imagine, his teammates are devastated for Robinson as a person and player, knowing how desperately he wanted one final shot at the NCAA Tournament under Pope. Instead, his dreams have been ripped away just short of the finish line, undergoing season-ending surgery the week before the SEC Tournament.

“You get pretty upset for Jax, knowing this is his last year and how badly he wanted to go out there and make a deep run in the tournament,” Almonor said. “We’re just praying for him for a speedy recovery.”

“We appreciate everything Jax has done and the fight he had to even go out there still play with essentially something torn in his shooting wrist, which isn’t easy to do,” Williams added. “We all love him and hope that he has a best recovery. We know that he’s going to be with us every step of the way.”

The reality is what it is, Kentucky now without its second-leading scorer the rest of the season — a player whose shooting gravity speaks for itself. Whether he’s hot or cold, you have no choice but to account for him every second he’s on the floor.

Now, he won’t be on the floor at all. Instead, he’ll be sitting next to Kerr Kriisa, whose season is also in serious doubt with no updates on his progress, Pope saying in February ‘the steps he would have to take from here to get back on the court to be cleared to play are a little bit extensive.’

Rather than sulk, though, their teammates plan on dedicating the rest of the regular season and the upcoming postseason run to the injured Wildcats.

“Definitely,” Almonor said of playing for Robinson and Kriisa. “They wish they could be out there and we’ve got to make sure we don’t take anything for granted. Don’t take any opportunity for granted. Go out there and play your hardest for as long as you can because you never know when something like that could happen.”

“It’s been like that for a lot of the games — even when Lamont (Butler) was out, Andrew (Carr) was out, we kind of rallied together for a lot of the games and ultimately got the win, especially games like Tennessee,” Williams added. “It’s just going to help us grow closer than we ever have and it’s going to help us in the long run. … (Robinson) is still going to be around us, he’s still the same happy guy. Just having that around us means a lot and it’s going to go a long way.”

If anything, it’s a constant reminder of just how valuable every second the healthy players have on the floor, never taking a single rep for granted.

Like Robinson and Kriisa saw, it can be taken away from you at any moment. Those two would do anything to suit up one last time in blue and white — don’t waste the chances you do get to wear that uniform over the next couple of weeks.

“It’s crazy. Obviously, you can’t control everything and that’s something you can’t control, so it’s just tough seeing what our brother is dealing with now,” Almonor said of Robinson. “We obviously would love to have him and appreciate everything he brings to the team — even him not being able to play, he still bring a lot to the team and we appreciate having it on the bench.

“Just him being off the court is really tough for us. He’s one of our leaders, and just seeing him go down like that, it really shows you how precious this game is. You never know when your season can be over just like that, your college career is over just like that. You gotta be able to take advantage of every opportunity you have.”