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Jeff Borzello
Kentucky guard Jaxson Robinson, the team’s second-leading scorer, will undergo surgery on his wrist and miss the rest of the season, coach Mark Pope said Saturday.
Robinson missed four straight games in February with the injury, but appeared set to return this past Wednesday against Oklahoma. He only played 12 minutes against the Sooners before reaggravating the injury, however, and was ruled out of Saturday’s game against Auburn.
Pope made the announcement after the Wildcats’ 94-78 loss to the Tigers.
“We kind of came to the final conclusion last night that he’s going to get surgery, so he’s going Wednesday to the world specialist to have surgery on his wrist,” he said. “When he went down, we kind of knew that he was going to need surgery, but he just wanted so badly to play. He rehabbed it, and had an injection to try to make it functional, and then he was doing OK and then he went down in the first half at Oklahoma …
“There’s just no way that he’s going to be able to play.”
It’s a three-month recovery, Pope said, meaning Robinson’s college career is over.
Robinson, a 6-foot-6 fifth-year senior, followed Pope from BYU to Kentucky last spring and started the first 23 games of the season for the Wildcats. He ends the campaign averaging 13.0 points and 3.5 rebounds, shooting nearly 38% from 3-point range.
Robinson enjoyed a breakout season last year under Pope, earning Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year honors after averaging 14.2 points. He began his college career at Texas A&M before transferring to Arkansas, where he also failed to carve out a consistent role. He then transferred to BYU to play under Pope and immediately started 30 games in his first campaign with the Cougars.
Kentucky has struggled with injuries this season, especially on the perimeter. Kerr Kriisa suffered a fractured wrist back in early December and has yet to play since undergoing surgery, while Lamont Butler has missed time during SEC play with a shoulder injury.
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