"All the emotions you could imagine": Mark Pope sends shockwaves to locker room as he recalls Kentucky players' reaction to Jaxson Robinson's surgery

Kentucky senior guard Jaxson Robinson will miss the rest of the season after suffering a wrist injury on Feb. 8. The Wildcats have already coped with this disappointing news, but after a loss to Auburn on Saturday, head coach Mark Pope gave the team more bad news about its star guard — Robinson will need surgery.

“I think the guys are devastated for him and really sad for us because he is such a massive part of this team. At the same time resolved that, we know what we have today,” Pope said. “And we are going to try to find a way to win with what we have today. Jax, these guys love Jax so much and Jax loves these guys so much and they’ve been on an epic journey together. It’s hard to make sense of why he doesn’t get a chance to finish this with these guys. It’s really brutal.”

NCAA Basketball: Kentucky at Oklahoma - Source: Imagn

After suffering his injury on Feb. 8, Robinson attempted to return against Oklahoma on Feb. 26 but did not play the second half. It was clear then that his season was over.

“We had a really trying time — just all the emotions you could imagine — post Oklahoma," Pope recalled. “So, it was a late game central time. We finished the game and then, you know, get back at 3 o’clock or 4 o’clock in the morning and are dealing with the emotion of that game. The emotion of Jax’s news, which we all didn’t really get to get final answers on until the next day, but all suspected.”

NCAA Basketball: South Carolina at Kentucky - Source: Imagn

Now, No. 19 Kentucky will aim to move forward without Robinson. Pope's team has one regular season game remaining, a visit to No. 15 Missouri, before the postseason. The Wildcats will look to pick up a few SEC Tournament wins ahead of the NCAA Tournament, in which they are expected to be a three-seed.

The devastation of losing Robinson will no doubt continue to impact Kentucky, but the ranked squad will look to make a long March Madness run in spite of this.

NCAA Basketball: Tennessee at Kentucky - Source: Imagn

Jaxson Robinson's Senior Season at Kentucky

Robinson spent the past two seasons at BYU before following Pope to Kentucky for his final year of eligibility. Before being sidelined by injury, the guard was shooting a career-high 43.2% from the field for the Wildcats. His 37.6% average from beyond the arc is also a career-high.

The Kentucky star aided his team with 13 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game. His average in assists and rebounds were both career highs. Robinson was thriving in the final season of his college career and news of his season-ending injury and surgery sent shockwaves through his Wildcats team.