No. 5 Kentucky men’s basketball battled back from an 18-point deficit on Saturday, Dec. 7, and defeated No. 7 Gonzaga 90-89 in overtime at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington.
UK entered the contest without its starting point guard, Lamont Butler, who was sidelined with an ankle injury that he suffered four days prior in Kentucky’s 70-66 loss to the Clemson Tigers, its first of the season.
Kentucky was forced to kickstart the game with Kerr Kriisa starting at the point in place of Butler. Kriisa played in all eight games leading up to that point, but had come off of the bench in every contest.
While adjusting to an offensive style without Butler, who was averaging 12.9 points and 3.9 assists, the Cats found themselves in early trouble, concluding the half by shooting 12-36 (33.3%) from the field and 5-17 (29.4%) from deep.
UK also suffered a 16-point deficit at the break, trailing 50-34.
If the score deficit wasn’t enough to scare the Cats, the fact that Gonzaga had won 175 straight games when leading by ten-plus points at halftime was cause for alarm. But, despite that, Kentucky’s team kept its head up and never wavered.
Kentucky re-gained its vitals just 2:30 into the second half when it went on a 9-0 scoring run, closing the margin to just four points, now trailing 56-52.
From there UK was able to hang in freely up until the 8:41 mark when things suddenly took a negative spin once more as Kriisa went down with a foot injury and was forced to sit the remainder of the game.
“Surgery is set to happen in the coming days, and while the injury is not considered to be season-ending, he will be out indefinitely,” UK Athletics said in a statement.
Because of the injury, UK’s starting shooting guard, Jaxson Robinson, was forced to play the point for the remainder of regulation and overtime.
While taking the reins, Robinson scored ten points, eight in regulation and two in overtime. He finished the game with 18 points, the second-most behind forward Andrew Carr, who finished with 19 points.
Through the span of the whole contest, Robinson also contributed five assists to the statsheet, his most in a game this season.
“He was really special man,” Pope said. “The first thing he did was go straight to the training room, trying to get Lamont and Kerr healthy. We’ll see how that works out, but until that happens we’re really blessed to have Jaxson Robinson.”
Butler was able to return to the Wildcats against Louisville over the weekend, meaning UK will have it’s No. 1 option back at the position, but the knowledge that Robinson is able to handle the role if the Cats were to need him to was a reassuring sign for a UK side that’s far from lacking in potential.
Next up, Kentucky is matched up with Ohio State in the CBS Sports Classic in Madison Square Garden in NYC. Tipoff against the Buckeyes is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Dec. 21, and will air live on CBS Sports.
