Three takeaways from a concerning Kentucky basketball Blue-White Game
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Jaland Lowe exited the Blue‑White Game with a right‑shoulder injury; imaging planned.
- Freshman Jasper Johnson led scoring, showed playmaking, defensive activity in scrimmage.
- Backups Aberdeen, Chandler, Johnson look ready to absorb point‑guard minutes if needed.
The Blue-White Game turned from fun to frightening in an instant Friday night.
Things were proceeding as they typically do in the Kentucky basketball team’s annual scrimmage when Jaland Lowe went to the floor clutching his right shoulder and a hush fell over the Memorial Coliseum crowd.
Lowe, the Wildcats’ starting point guard for what is expected to be a 2025-26 season with realistic national championship hopes, stayed down for a minute before popping up and being led off the court. He did not return to the bench area for the remainder of the scrimmage, and UK coach Mark Pope said afterward that he had “tweaked his shoulder” and would likely undergo imaging for the injury sometime Saturday.
That’s obviously not what Pope wanted to be talking about following what is designed to be an open scrimmage for the Kentucky fans. The Cats will play their exhibition opener against No. 1-ranked Purdue in Rupp Arena on Oct. 24, with another preseason tuneup against Georgetown University on Oct. 30 before the regular-season opener against Nicholls on Nov. 4.
That gives Lowe — a preseason third-team All-SEC selection — just two and a half weeks to get back to the court, with the rivalry game against Louisville set for Nov. 11.
His availability moving forward will be the biggest question surrounding this UK basketball roster in the short term. Meanwhile, there was plenty to glean during Friday night’s scrimmage.
Here are three takeaways from the event:
Jasper Johnson makes plays
The leading scorer of the evening was freshman Jasper Johnson, a celebrated high school recruit from Lexington who has one-and-done aspirations but hasn’t widely been projected as a starter for this Kentucky team. At least, not to start the season.
Johnson looked pretty good for most of Friday night.
Known as one of the most gifted offensive players in the 2025 high school class, Johnson got things going with his defense early on, lunging out to block a long jumper by Kam Williams toward the beginning of the scrimmage and racing down to hit a transition 3-pointer on the other end.
A little while later, the 6-foot-5 guard hit a tough shot over Williams. Not long after that, he corralled a loose ball, started the break and ended up with a hockey assist on a Trent Noah 3-pointer.
He finished the scrimmage with 10 points for the victorious Blue team, 35-26 winners over the White in what amounted to less than 20 minutes of actual game action. Johnson was 4 for 7 from the field and 2 for 3 from deep.
There were some lowlights, too. Johnson had three turnovers (with no assists) and dished out some sloppy passes, but overall it was an encouraging effort for a 180-pound freshman who has been working to play a more physical brand of basketball with this transition to college.
“I’ve been adjusting to the physicality, trying to get more reps, watch film — really trying to be a step ahead mentally,” Johnson said. “I know I may not be the biggest on the floor, so just knowing where I need to be at all times with my communication.”
Johnson said he’s continued to work hard in the weight room — mentioning extra lifting sessions with head strength coach Randy Towner — while “eating more” and improving his nutrition.
“Just doing whatever I can to be ready for game one,” he said.
Who backs up Jaland Lowe?
The scenario that Pope didn’t want might now be a reality.
What happens if Lowe is out for an extended period of time with that shoulder injury?
Kentucky had a ton of trouble keeping its point guards healthy last season. Lamont Butler, the starter, was in and out of the lineup with multiple injuries, and he was not close to 100% for the team’s NCAA Tournament run. Kerr Kriisa, the backup, suffered a foot injury in early December and never played again. And Jaxson Robinson, the third option at the point, was ruled out for the season in February with a wrist injury.
And even on a team as deep as this one, Lowe seemed like the Cat that Pope could least afford to lose. The transfer from Pittsburgh averaged 35.5 minutes per game last season and was expected to get the lion’s share of the playing time for these Wildcats.
So, now what?
The good news for Pope is that his potential backups all had their moments Friday night.
Johnson is one of those options.
“I’m very comfortable,” he said of potentially filling in for Lowe. “I know he may go down, but we are a team. I know everybody’s willing to step up to that role. I know he’s a big part of our team right now, playing the 1, being the head of our snake. …
“We don’t know much in detail of his injury, but I know me — as well as the rest of my teammates — are all ready to step up and do whatever we need to do to get wins.”
Pope has also mentioned Denzel Aberdeen, Collin Chandler and Otega Oweh as guys who could back up Lowe and get the offense started for Kentucky this season.
Aberdeen was especially active Friday night, jumping passing lanes to get steals while tying a game high with three assists. His shot wasn’t falling — 1 for 5 from the field — but he got good looks, and his teammates have talked glowingly of that aspect of his game in recent weeks.
“He’s been shooting the leather off the ball,” Oweh told the Herald-Leader on Tuesday.
Chandler was even worse from the field Friday — 0 for 7, with six of those misses coming from 3-point range — but he played with the same confidence he showed at the end of last season and was active and effective defensively. He’s also been singled out for his shooting this offseason, and those attempts are likely to fall as the season progresses.
Oweh, Quaintance injury updates
SEC preseason player of the year Otega Oweh didn’t participate in UK’s Pro Day event last week, and he wasn’t in the Big Blue Madness scrimmage either, but he returned to full-contact practice Monday and was on the Memorial Coliseum court Friday night.
Oweh missed the end of summer workouts and the start of fall practice with a turf toe injury, but he did not require surgery, and he looked fine physically in the Blue-White Game.
Pope did announce to the crowd before the scrimmage began that Oweh would have some playing restrictions and wouldn’t be on the court for more than three minutes at a time. Still, Oweh started the game, finishing with three points, two rebounds, two assists and one steal for the winning team.
Oweh said earlier in the week that he was feeling good, and he was his typical, speedy self with the ball in his hands, attacking the basket with a head of steam and mixing it up in the paint. He did not shoot the ball well either — 1 for 6 from the field — and that’s where he showed the most rust, failing to finish on drives to the basket and generally looking like he was still trying to find his rhythm as a scorer.
That shouldn’t be a concern moving forward. Oweh was UK’s leading scorer last season and hit double digits in his first 26 games as a Wildcat. He offered a reminder of that talent toward the end of the night, driving toward the basket and finishing with a creative left-handed scoop shot around a defender.
“He just is a problem on the court,” Pope said. “Even tonight, he had an impact in limited minutes. And he’s just kind of barely starting to kind of have a feel for having some live play. He just manufactures things out of nothing. He can just shut down his defensive assignment and cause chaos on the defensive end, and then — like he was last year — without running a play for him, he just can manufacture buckets just in a whole myriad of different ways.
“And so it’s going to be really fun to get him back as he works his way back into this. I think in the next two or three weeks, I think he’s going to be back full speed, full time. Clearly, he’s a really important part of our team.”
Sophomore big man Jayden Quaintance, a projected NBA lottery pick who is still recovering from ACL surgery in March and is not expected to be ready for the start of the regular season, was at Memorial Coliseum for the scrimmage Friday, but he did not participate in anything basketball related.
“He is making incredible strides,” Pope told the crowd before the scrimmage. “But it’s still going to be a little while.”
