Kentucky basketball will be down a starter against Tennessee. The latest SEC injury news.

cameron drummond

Mon, Jan 27, 2025, 8:23 p.m.·8 min read

The latest installment of the men’s basketball rivalry series between Kentucky and Tennessee will have plenty on the line for both programs on Tuesday night in Knoxville.

The No. 8-ranked Volunteers (17-3 overall and 4-3 in SEC games) have only lost in conference play this season, including their most recent game, a 53-51 defeat at No. 1 Auburn on Saturday night. In comparison, No. 12-ranked Kentucky (14-5, 3-3) is on its first two-game losing streak of the Mark Pope era, having lost at home to No. 4 Alabama on Jan. 18 and at now-ranked Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon.

Safe to say, the stakes will be plenty high for both programs when Tuesday’s game begins at 7 p.m. at Tennessee’s Thompson–Boling Arena.

Now, a clear picture has emerged about which players will and won’t be available for the contest.

On Monday night, the SEC injury report for both teams was released ahead of the game. The injury report was updated Tuesday evening, prior to tipoff.

The report reads poorly for the Wildcats, who will be down one starter for the game.

Kentucky men’s basketball guard Lamont Butler (1) will miss UK’s game at Tennessee on Tuesday night.

Lamont Butler is out for UK basketball

Kentucky had three players listed on Monday night’s SEC injury report. Starting point guard Lamont Butler is out for the game against Tennessee. Also out is backup guard Kerr Kriisa. Fifth-year forward Andrew Carr was questionable for the game. On Tuesday, Carr was removed from the injury report, indicating he will play for the Wildcats against the Volunteers.

Butler — who is averaging 13.2 points and 4.8 assists per game this season — has battled several injuries this season, including injuries to his ankle and shoulder.

In Saturday’s loss at Vanderbilt, Butler was charged with six turnovers. This tied both his season and career highs for giveaways.

Despite being listed on recent injury reports, Butler’s only absences for the Wildcats this season came in a pair of nonconference contests against Gonzaga and Colgate in December. The Cats won both of those games.

“I mean Lamont. He’s got a lot right now,” Pope said Saturday after the Vanderbilt game. “We all know what a warrior he is. He is giving us everything he’s got right now. It’s hard for him, physically, right now.”

Butler is playing some of the best basketball of his five-year college career this season, which is his first at UK. Butler is averaging 13.2 points, 4.8 assists and 1.8 steals per game while shooting 51.3% from the field and 40% from 3-point range. Butler’s 26.7 minutes per game is third on the UK team, and his point-of-attack defense has been crucial for the Wildcats.

On UK’s pregame radio show Tuesday night, Pope said several different UK players will likely play at point guard for the Wildcats against Tennessee.

UK ranks 81st in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom.

Prior to Saturday’s loss at Vanderbilt, the Wildcats had two players ruled out of that contest. Carr and Kriisa both missed the loss at Vandy.

Carr’s absence marked the first time the former Delaware and Wake Forest player had missed a game for UK. Prior to Saturday, Carr had started all 18 of UK’s games with per-game averages of 10.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 26 minutes. Carr — who is second on the Kentucky team in field goal percentage at 53.9% — has been battling a lingering back injury.

Following Saturday’s loss at Vanderbilt, Pope provided an injury update on Carr, and at the time, it didn’t sound promising.

“I’ve probably done a bad job with Drew,” Pope’s update began. “He wants to play so bad and we were just kind of seeing a decline in his performance because there’s just so much he can’t do with his back. We were trending the wrong direction. Injuries are hard. These calls are really hard. What we’re hoping is that we can get to a space sometime in the next few weeks, the next few days, somewhere where we have enough confidence.”

“Every game it’s kind of like, he just gets beat up so bad it’s back to square one, where it’s hard for him to walk essentially,” Pope added about Carr. “So, we’re hoping that with more time we can get him to some sustainable place where he can endure a practice and endure a game and not be back to zero. But, we’ll see if that actually happens. It’s complicated. You’re dealing in percentages. You’re not dealing in guarantees.”

But, Carr will be back for UK on Tuesday against Tennessee.

On UK’s pregame radio show Tuesday, Pope said that he will be “holding his breath” regarding Carr’s back injury against Tennessee.

“We’re going to really, really monitor his minutes,” Pope said. “Winning is the number one priority, and then number ‘1A’ is can we get him through this night without having a major setback. That’s weighing heavy on my heart.”

Andrew Carr missed UK’s most recent game at Vanderbilt due to a back injury.

Fifth-year forward Ansley Almonor — who previously played four seasons at Fairleigh Dickinson — took Carr’s place in the UK starting lineup against Vandy.

Almonor had one of his most productive games of the season in the loss. He tied his season high with 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting from 3-point range.

“I feel like I get prepared the same every game, because I go in there, it doesn’t matter if I’m starting or not, with the intention to do my best,” said Almonor, who also matched his season high with four rebounds against the Commodores. “... I was hitting shots. (That’s what) I came here to do, is hit shots.”

Almonor and fifth-year guard Koby Brea both started for UK against Tennessee, taking the usual starting spots occupied by Carr and Butler.

Kriisa — the fifth-year UK guard from Estonia who previously played at Arizona and West Virginia — remains out for the Wildcats.

He suffered a foot injury Dec. 7 during UK’s overtime win over Gonzaga in Seattle, and hasn’t played since. The day after that game, Kentucky announced that Kriisa’s injury required surgery.

Kriisa is now beyond the initial six-week timeline that Pope first mentioned as an estimate for his return. There’s no updated timeline for when Kriisa will play.

“His recovery so far has been completely predictable and scripted,” Pope said last week during his weekly radio show. “And we’re going to know more in the next few weeks about whether this is going to kind of turn the corner and be on the quicker side or if this is going to be a complicated recovery. So we’re kind of moving into that window where we’re going to get some more information on his recovery.”

One effect of UK’s recent injury woes has been the playing time it’s afforded to all three UK freshmen: Guards Collin Chandler and Travis Perry, and forward Trent Noah.

Chandler made only his second SEC appearance of the season for UK against Vanderbilt, logging three minutes. Perry played seven minutes against Vanderbilt, and has become a mainstay of the UK rotation over the last seven weeks.

Noah’s performance against Vanderbilt was a surprise positive for Pope and the Wildcats. The Harlan County native hadn’t played in a game in nearly a month before logging season bests in minutes (12) and rebounds (four) against Vanderbilt.

“Shout out to Trent Noah. He’s been sitting on the bench almost the entire season, but for him to get thrown into the fire against Vandy and play the way that he did,” UK fifth-year guard Jaxson Robinson said Monday. “He went out there and played hard, got some good offensive rebounds, was aggressive defensively. He didn’t make every right decision, but I think what matters most is just his motor... I see Travis, Trent, Collin, all those guys working extra every day, and they do it together... It’s really cool to see the bond and the relationship that they’re forming.”

Tennessee basketball injury news for Kentucky game

The only player listed on Tennessee’s injury report for Tuesday’s game is sophomore forward J.P. Estrella, who is out for the season.

The Volunteers had three players listed on their injury report before Saturday’s loss at Auburn.

Senior forward Igor Milicic Jr. was initially listed as probable with a lower-body injury, but went on to start like usual for the Volunteers against the Tigers. Milicic had four points, two rebounds and two blocks in 27 minutes for Tennessee in that game. Milicic shot just 1-for-6 from the field and missed all three of his 3-point tries.

Milicic is averaging 10 points and 8.1 rebounds per game for the Volunteers. Milicic leads Tennessee in rebounding.

Senior guard Jordan Gainey also played for Tennessee on Saturday despite initially being listed as questionable due to flu-like symptoms. Gainey had eight points in 25 minutes off the bench for Tennessee. He shot just 3-for-10 from the field and fouled out.

For the season, Gainey is averaging 11.1 points per game for Tennessee, which ranks third on the team.

Estrella is out for the season for Tennessee after undergoing foot surgery in November. The second-year forward — who was a four-star recruit in the 2023 high school class — only played in three games this season before having surgery.