John Clay: The effort is there, but shorthanded, this Kentucky basketball team can only go so far

John Clay, Lexington Herald-Leader on Feb 24, 2025

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — You can’t fault their effort. They’re playing hard. They’re hanging tough in tough circumstances in tough situations when, as a previous coach might have said, they could easily let go of the rope. These Kentucky Wildcats are holding tight to that rope.

But Saturday at Coleman Coliseum, playing the fourth-ranked team in the nation in the Alabama Crimson Tide, once again without the services of their two starting guards in Lamont Butler and Jaxson Robinson, coach Mark Pope’s club proved effort can only take you so far.

Down 47-40 at the half, the Cats had several chances to give up the ghost early in the second period. Alabama led by 11 points, 53-42 with 17:13 left, after all. Preseason SEC player of the year Mark Sears was operating in high gear. Freshman guard Aden Holloway was nailing 3-pointers. In the midst of a White-Out, the Bama faithful were roaring. Kentucky appeared close to being swept away by the Tide.

That didn’t happen. Pope’s club survived the wave. Soon Bama’s lead was down to seven points. Then six. Then four. With 11:20 remaining, the Cats trailed by a mere three points, 63-60. With 8:18 left on the clock, Kentucky’s deficit was only four points, 70-66. Striking distance.

“Then,” UK’s Andrew Carr said, “we had some defensive lapses that allowed them to stretch the lead.”

Stretch the lead Bama did. The Tide’s advantage grew to eight, then nine, then a dozen when guard Chris Youngblood banged home a 3-pointer with 6:43 remaining to make the score 78-66 Alabama. To be honest, the rest was academic.

Yes, there were bright spots in blue. Koby Brea scored a game high 20 points. With the Alabama students chanting “USA-USA-USA” every time Amari Williams stepped to the foul line, the Englishman scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. His once ailing back better by the day, Carr finished with 17 points and six rebounds.

But Kentucky’s improved defense couldn’t measure up to the nation’s highest-scoring team. Alabama shot 44.8% in its 102-97 win over UK at Rupp back on Jan. 18. Saturday, Alabama shot 52.5% for the game, including 58% in the second half. Sears finished with 30 points. Holloway added 19.

By game’s end, coach Nate Oats’ club had improved to 22-5 overall, including 11-3 in the SEC. Kentucky had dropped to 18-9 overall, including 7-7 in the SEC. And you could easily make the case that even with Butler and Robinson both available for the visitors, the outcome would not have changed Saturday.

Still, the continued absence of those two guards — Butler being UK’s best defender; Robinson being the team’s second-leading scorer — has made Kentucky’s task that much tougher in a brutal league. That was especially true Saturday against an Alabama team dedicated to climbing back on the winning track after consecutive losses to Auburn and Missouri.

The best news Saturday was that Butler (shoulder) and Robinson (wrist) reportedly did some light work in the Cats’ morning shootaround. During his Friday press conference, Pope revealed that Butler was ready to participate in some modified live practice and Robinson was ready to do some skill work.

The hope is the tandem will be back sooner than later. After all, Kentucky has only four regular-season games remaining — Oklahoma on Wednesday in Norman; Auburn next Saturday at Rupp Arena; LSU in the home finale March 4 and Missouri in the regular-season finale in Columbia on March 8.

Without Butler and Robinson, Kentucky has proven to be a scrappy team capable of winning home games against mid-level teams. Without them, they haven’t been able to quite measure up on the road, losing at Texas and in Tuscaloosa.

“We’re getting down the stretch run,” Pope said Saturday, “and us getting better is something that we’re obsessing about and we’re determined to do.”

They’re trying. There’s no doubt about that. But without Butler and Robinson, you wonder just how far this Kentucky team can go come March and tournament time. The finish line is not that far away.

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