Kentucky won a game in the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2022, but it came at the cost of an injury to Lamont Butler.

Against Oklahoma, the Wildcats’ starting point guard reinjured his left shoulder which kept him out of six games in SEC play. The body language of the staff and the words of Mark Pope, who used the word “devastating”, did not inspire confidence that he would return for the NCAA Tournament.

Talking to Tom Leach on Friday night before their game against Alabama, Pope said they had received the “best possible news” on Butler.

“We got the best possible news about Lamont,” Pope said. “He’s gonna be in good shape, but we’re going to sit him tonight. We look forward to having him moving forward.”

On Sunday morning, College basketball national analyst Jon Rothstein reported that Butler will be available for Kentucky’s first-round NCAA Tournament game this week.

Great news to kick off Selection Sunday!

Kentucky didn’t play to their ability against Alabama. Playing less than 24 hours before, down their starting point guard in Lamont Butler, and their leading scorer in Otega Oweh for an extended period of time, it’s not difficult to see why.

Shortly after the Crimson Tide’s 99-70 win over Kentucky, head coach Nate Oats was asked about their next matchup against the Florida Gators. To which Oats responded with some subtle shade the Wildcats’ way.

“Florida is a lot better team [than Kentucky],” Oats said. “They’re a lot deeper. They’re not missing so many pieces due to injury like Kentucky was. We’re gonna be in for a war tonight.”

While Oats did acknowledge Kentucky’s injuries, the initial comment was very much avoidable.

Against the Gators, Alabama went on to lose forward Grant Nelson and was outscored 57-37 in the second half, ultimately suffering a blowout loss of their own, 104- 82.

Just imagine what would have happened had they been down two starters and a backup point guard.

Lightning never strikes twice… unless you’re wearing blue in Nashville.

For the second time in mere weeks, Kentucky had a game come down to the wire with the Oklahoma Sooners and were saved at the buzzer by a heroic bucket from Otega Oweh. The former win was on the road, marking an important crux in the ‘Cats chase for higher seeding.

The latter came in the form of the Wildcats’ first conference tournament win in more than three years. To say the least, the win meant a lot to both the team and the program. Celebration is certainly in order.

Though, as has become the norm in this injury-ridden season, there’s another, less fortunate side to this coin: Lamont Butler has gone down once again, appearing to re-aggravate his left shoulder injury in the first half of his first SEC Tournament game.

After taking heavy precautions, adding the brace, and sitting out his fair share of time already, it seemed that the worst was behind Kentucky’s team-leading point guard. He talked about being at “85-90%” just a few weeks before he left the game last night, only to return to the bench in a warm-up shirt. He was confirmed to be out for the rest of the match shortly after.

So what now? According to Mark Pope, who noted that Butler underwent imaging on his shoulder at halftime, he’s “praying like crazy” that Butler can “find his way back onto the court at some point this year.”

An Unfair Game

“It just doesn’t seem fair,” he said, following the game. “This is not a fair game… man I would like for him so badly to be able to step on a court again, so we’ll see how it goes.”

“We’ll see.”

Regarding his current status, ‘Cats fans have little more to go off of than Pope’s hopeful outlook going forward. But while the waiting game sucks, it’s something that Kentucky fans are more than used to by now.

And in the meantime, the Crimson Tide are on deck in Nashville, and the big blue nation isn’t going anywhere. The Wildcats that remain will tip off against Alabama tonight at (hopefully) 9:30 p.m. on ESPN. A win would mean a date with the winner of Missouri/Florida in the SEC Semifinals.

A loss would mean the next match is madness.