OXFORD, MS. – When a college basketball team loses its starting point guard, especially when said guard is one of the better defenders on the roster, struggles are sure to follow.
Add in the fact that the team’s backup point guard is also out and perhaps its most reliable veteran scorer has been limited with back spasms, one may even find themself sympathetic when the squad drops games it shouldn’t or struggles to find the net.

In spite of that, while hardships are to be expected in what may ultimately go down as the strongest college basketball conference of all time, if that same team were to come out onto the court looking unmotivated, as if it has completely disconnected itself from its identity altogether, much of that sympathy is likely to fade.
That’s the situation plaguing Kentucky men’s basketball, a squad that has dropped four of its last five contests, multiple of which came against unranked and seemingly inferior competition even within the loaded SEC.
It is a fact that Lamont Butler is an invaluable part of the Wildcats and his absence has been felt dramatically. Butler, who has averaged 13.2 points and 4.8 assists per game while shooting over 50% from the field, was the motor of Kentucky’s offense and a capable and gritty defender.
His backup, Kerr Kriisa, was UK’s spark plug; a guy who was never afraid to put himself in harm’s way to take a charge or fight tooth and nail on defense.
The loss of both of them, potentially Kriisa for the remainder of the season, hurt. It would hurt any team in the country. That is a fact, and an undeniable one at that.
What is also undeniable is that neither Butler nor Kriisa WERE the Kentucky Wildcats as a whole. Their lack of ability to play while injured may cause the offense to sputter as points per game may go down, but their absence should not threaten to shatter the entire team and send it into the tailspin it is so clearly in.
Taking the court against Ole Miss, Kentucky was embarrassed in the first half. Embarrassed even more than it had been when John Calipari’s 1-6 SEC Arkansas Razorbacks marched into Rupp Arena and showed more heart and desire to win en route to a double-digit victory.
Within the first five minutes, Kentucky was trailing the Rebels by more points than the Cats had scored in the game. Midway through that half, that score became 31-18.
The cherry on top?
Kentucky allowed a 15-3 Rebel run to close the half, forcing Kentucky to look itself in the mirror down 23-points, a figure that would ultimately prove to be insurmountable despite UK outscoring the Rebs 53-44 in the second half. The score at halftime was 54-31.

Now, sure, Ole Miss entered the game as the No. 25 team in the nation after losing to consensus No. 1 Auburn, and is a very stout defensive unit. The Rebels are a force to be reckoned with.
With that said, while one-to-one comparisons aren’t perfect, Ole Miss entered the game against UK with 22 games under its belt, 12 of which had come at home.
Looking at how other teams fared against Chris Beard’s Rebs, should UK fans really be led to believe that, even without Butler and Kriisa, the Cats (No. 24 in KenPom, 112 defensive efficiency) are weaker defensively than the Long Island Sharks (No. 312 KP, 180 DE)? Half the defensive unit of the Grambling State Tigers (No. 334 KP, 286 DE)? Weaker than the mighty Lindenwood Lions (No. 343 KP, 262 DE)? What about the Queens Royals (No. 212 KP, 223 DE)?
Okay, maybe UK fans will concede defense. The Cats have never been great at it this year, and Butler and Kriisa were big defenders.
The offense should be harder to concede Even without its point guards, UK should surely be able to muster up the courage to equal even a fraction of production that earned it the No. 2 spot on KenPom in offensive efficiency. After all, the Cats scored 53 in the second half!
No. UK’s startling 31 in the first half was weaker than the total put up by some of the nation’s strongest offensive forces in the same situation. Offensive forces like… Grambling State (No. 348 offense), Lindenwood (354) and Queens (204).
It can’t be overstated that this is not a UK roster that likens itself to Rutgers, being led by freshman stars without much else to bolster them. While, yes, UK has been playing freshmen Collin Chandler, Travis Perry and Trent Noah more frequently with its injury issues, the stars and the heart of the team are veterans.
Mark Pope’s NBA prospect he brought over from BYU, Jaxson Robinson, a fifth-year senior, scored just eight in the first half while having the same total number of fouls as he did assists and rebounds.
Veteran big man Amari Williams, while he did log a triple-double by the final buzzer, had just six first-half points. Even star Otega Oweh, who finished with 24, completed half one with five points on 2-9 shooting.
Looking at the macro, while Robinson, Oweh and Williams would rebound in the second half, veteran Ansley Almonor made UK history with the most minutes played in the last 20 years by a player to attempt zero field goals, zero free throws, zero rebounds, zero assists, zero steals, zero blocks, zero turnovers and zero fouls. Almonor played 15 minutes. What exactly was he doing?
That’s not even to mention that, while Noah is a freshman and Almonor broke the record, Harlan County’s own slid right in at No. 2 with zero stats in 13 minutes.
Kentucky was much better in the second half, but Pope said it best in the postgame press conference: “We don’t do moral victories at Kentucky.”

Pope hit the nail on the head once again just a minute before when asked about the status of Butler and Kriisa.
“I don’t know, right now we have to figure this out with the guys we have,” he said. “That’s the job, that’s what we’re focused on.”
Figure it out he must, because, as it stands, Kentucky appeared in its first “bubble watch” warning from ESPN shortly after the game and the Cats appear to be fading quicker than Lightning McQueen in the beginning of Pixar’s Cars 3. Fading fast.
Every team is different, but Kentucky is not the only program in the country dealing with injuries. It’s not even the only power five team dealing with injuries to major contributors and leaders.
As bitter as it may make some UK fans to bring it up, and accusations of the strength of the conference will surely fly, UK’s own in-state rival, Louisville, was forced to proceed without starting forward Aboubacar Traore, who broke his arm, backup point guard Koren Johnson, who needed season-ending surgery, and starting forward Kasean Pryor, the team’s second-leading scorer and leading rebounder that tore his ACL. None of that even mentions Aly Khalifa and Kobe Rodgers, both of whom are on medical redshirts.
The Cardinals, in an admittedly weaker conference, rattled off 10 straight wins to enter the AP Top 25 and place themselves back within the good graces of the NCAA Tournament.
Ole Miss’ Beard said it best when asked about Butler following the game.
“I don’t know their team, so I’m not an expert, but obviously he is one of the best point guards in the country, and for him not to play, their team has to adjust,” he said, before following it up with, “Just like we had to adjust with Matt Murrell out some games and Mikael Brown(-Jones) having some real adversity… Dre Davis (too), so.”
Kentucky will have a chance at the closest thing the SEC has to a “get right” game on Saturday at home against South Carolina, but, even then, UK fans worry after the Cats showed up simply unprepared for the likes of Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Ohio State and Georgia.
Being the head coach or a player at an institution like Kentucky can’t be easy. Anyone who claims it is surely comes from a place of bad faith. But, sooner or later, one has to realize that they were given the opportunity to wear “Kentucky” for a reason.
Coming out flat and uninspired to get run off the court in the first 20 minutes is wholly unacceptable, and no amount of fight in the second half will change that. No amount of injuries will change that.
In Oxford, Kentucky looked lost and dejected before the game even began.
It is true that the lack of Butler and Kriisa lowers the ceiling of what the team could be, but year one under Pope is still capable of magic and, for Kentucky fans who haven’t seen a second weekend of an NCAA Tournament since 2019, it is not championship or bust.
In spite of that, if the Cats can’t pull themselves out of whatever rut they live within and come motivated to play basketball, it can almost be said with certainty that the first weekend is where the Cats will die.