Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope delivers an update on Jaland Lowe’s injury
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- UK basketball coach Mark Pope provides an update on the health of guard Jaland Lowe.
- Pope spoke following Kentucky’s home win over Eastern Illinois at Rupp Arena.
- Lowe reinjured his right shoulder during Kentucky’s practice on Thursday.
Following Kentucky basketball’s blowout 99-53 home win against Eastern Illinois on Friday night, coach Mark Pope provided an update on the status of junior point guard Jaland Lowe, who reinjured his right shoulder in Thursday’s practice.
Pope said there will be a discussion over the next couple of days about what’s best to do with Lowe given the reoccurrence of his injury.
Pope added that second and third opinions have already been solicited. He said the next step will be sitting down with all the stakeholders to determine what the next course of action is.
“Right now it’s going to be more just the whole group — the whole medical team, mom and dad, J-Lo and me — sitting down and having a real conversation about what’s the best thing to do moving forward,” Pope said.
Lowe initially injured his right shoulder during Kentucky’s Blue-White Game last month. That ailment kept him out of both of UK’s exhibition contests and the season-opening win over Nicholls. Lowe came off the bench in UK’s two subsequent games — a home win against Valparaiso and Tuesday’s rivalry loss at Louisville — before missing Friday’s game.
During UK’s pregame radio show before the Eastern Illinois contest, Pope confirmed Lowe reinjured his shoulder in practice Thursday. That’s now two confirmed injuries to Lowe’s right shoulder in less than a four-week span.
On the radio, Pope said UK is still “in the process of trying to figure out what the next step” will be, as far as Lowe’s recovery options. Lowe was at Rupp Arena on Friday, but he didn’t go through any basketball activities before, during or after the game.
While appearing on UK’s postgame radio show Friday night, Pope added that he hopes a clear decision is reached about Lowe’s health status sometime in the next few days.
Earlier on Friday, Lowe’s father, Marland, told the Herald-Leader that a definitive determination hadn’t yet been issued on Lowe’s status for the rest of the season.
Marland added that the Lowe family was set to meet with medical personnel Friday, before UK’s game, to learn more about the injury prognosis.
“There are a lot of possibilities, but, right now, we’re just waiting to hear what they say,” said Marland, who added that Lowe underwent an MRI that didn’t reveal any additional damage to his right shoulder following Thursday’s practice injury.
What has Jaland Lowe done for UK basketball this season?
During the offseason, Lowe was projected to be UK’s starting point guard for the 2025-26 campaign after arriving as a transfer from Pittsburgh, where he played the past two seasons.
Last season as a sophomore, Lowe averaged 16.8 points, 5.5 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game for the Panthers.
Lowe hasn’t gotten a chance to start for the Wildcats yet, though. He’s come off the bench in both of his games for Kentucky. Against Valparaiso, Lowe scored six points, dished out five assists and had a steal in 18 minutes. Against Louisville, Lowe scored nine points and added five assists, one block and one steal. Lowe also had three turnovers in his 30 minutes on the floor against the Cardinals.
Lowe’s shooting was off in both of those games. He’s a combined 4 for 15 from the floor this season (26.7%).
“With Jaland being out, we’re going to have guys step up and fill his shoes,” UK junior forward Mouhamed Dioubate said of Lowe being out again. “We understand we can’t do anything for him to rush and come back. In the meantime, we’re just going to have the next guy step up. We’re a deep team. We’ve been saying that all year. The next guy just needs to step up.”
Lowe entered the season as a third-team All-SEC preseason selection. He was the only UK player other than Otega Oweh (SEC preseason player of the year) to receive all-conference preseason honors.
Entering the season, availability wasn’t expected to be a concern for Lowe. He averaged more than 35 minutes per game last season at Pitt. In fact, Lowe only missed one game due to injury (concussion) across his two seasons with the Panthers.
Mark Pope talks about Jayden Quaintance
During his postgame press conference Friday, Pope also touched on the idea that Lowe’s injuries would cause him to be more cautious with the return of sophomore forward Jayden Quaintance.
As a freshman, Quaintance was a standout at Arizona State before suffering a torn ACL in February. He averaged 9.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.6 blocks, 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals for the Sun Devils last season, starting all 24 games he played.
Quaintance still hasn’t been cleared for live contact as part of his recovery from that injury.
“The best me, the me that I would like to be, doesn’t spend a lot of time worrying,” Pope said. “We deal with things as they come. And it’s the beauty of a season. So I would say with JQ, I’m not spending a lot of time worrying. I’m just excited when he’s ready to go. It’s going to be fun and we have so much to figure out with JQ... I’m way more curious than I am worried. I’m curious about how quickly he’s going to learn us and how he’s going to fit in to the deal and what kind of impact he can make and what type of leader he’s going to be.”
This story was originally published November 14, 2025 at 9:13 PM.
