Kentucky Basketball: Wildcats land former BYU guard Jaxson Robinson
By Joey Loose
With June and the NBA Draft on the doorstep, these types of announcements are very prevalent in the current news cycle in the world of college basketball. One of the latest decision came from Jaxson Robinson, who not only chose to withdraw from the NBA Draft process, but has also announced that he will transfer to Kentucky.
A 6’7 forward from Oklahoma, Robinson actually began his career in the SEC, as the former Top 100 prospect spent a year each at Texas A&M and Arkansas, though he didn’t play a significant role in either season. His rise to prominence would come after transferring to BYU in 2022 and playing under Mark Pope.
After showing promise as a junior, Robinson is coming off what’s by far his most productive season of college basketball. He just averaged 14.2 points and 2.5 rebounds per game for the Cougars, averaging 35% and becoming a major playmaker in the program’s first year in the Big 12. He settled into an important role off the bench and was actually named Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year as a result.
Not only did Robinson become BYU’s leading scorer, he was a driving force in their bounce back season. In the previous season, the Cougars finished below .500 in their last year in the WCC, but they would exceed expectations in the Big 12. Picked near the very bottom of the league, Robinson helped take BYU to 23 win, a 5th place finish in the league, and a return to the NCAA Tournament.
Robinson was on his game early in the year, scoring 24 in a win over NC State before dropping a season-high 28 points against Denver in mid-December. After success throughout the Big 12, he’d finish his time with the Cougars on a high note, scoring 25 points in BYU’s upset loss to Duquesne in the Big Dance.
Robinson’s circumstances changed with every season and year five will be plenty different again. While he was seriously flirting with the NBA Draft process, Robinson has announced that he will return for another collegiate season and rejoin his most recent head coach at Kentucky.
This time Robinson figures to have a significantly bigger role while playing in the SEC, sliding into what might be a major role for the Wildcats. Pope has rebuilt this roster using the Transfer Portal, and Robinson joins a team that includes names like Lamont Butler, Kerr Kriisa, Amari Williams, and others.
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How will he fare in a third season under Pope’s guidance? Robinson becomes another veteran presence on a patchwork Kentucky roster that certainly looks like a Top 25 team based on their offseason work. Time will tell how things progress in Lexington, though we should expect to see good work out of Robinson with these Wildcats.