‘Next man up.’ UK basketball players look ahead to life without Jaland Lowe
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky lost starting point guard Jaland Lowe to a right-shoulder re-injury.
- Pope will consult Lowe’s family and medical staff on surgery and redshirt options.
- Denzel Aberdeen, Collin Chandler and Jasper Johnson project to handle point minutes.
Kentucky beat Eastern Illinois 99-53 on Friday night in Rupp Arena.
What happened on the court wasn’t the primary talking point after the game.
About 24 hours before the Wildcats and the Panthers tipped off what was destined to be an absolute blowout, UK’s players had to witness — for the second time in four weeks — their point guard fall to the floor in agony.
Jaland Lowe, who came to Lexington with the intention of leading Mark Pope’s second Kentucky basketball team to a banner-raising season, reinjured his right shoulder during the team’s Thursday practice. It was the same shoulder he injured during UK’s Blue-White Game on Oct. 17, and the visual of the team leader going down for a second time — so early in what was expected to be a special Kentucky season — was almost too much to bear.
“I’m not actually a really emotional guy,” sophomore forward Andrija Jelavic said. “But when Jaland went down — when he screamed and called for (head athletic trainer Brandon Wells) — I got goosebumps. I was really, really sad. I didn’t know what to say to him. I just sat next to him, told him that everything’s gonna be good.
“But he’s a really strong dude, and I don’t want to make a big deal out of his injury, because he’s gonna bounce back, really sooner than later. But to have such a good man — such a good human outside of the court, and a good player on the court — injured, it’s really, really making me a little bit sad.”
That was the consensus among the Cats after Friday’s blowout victory.
As far as Jelavic’s optimistic timeline for Lowe’s potential return, there’s nothing official there yet. Pope said after the game that he would have discussions with Lowe, his family and medical personnel in the coming days to plot out the best course of action moving forward.
Lowe has one year of eligibility beyond this one. In the worst-case scenario of season-ending surgery on his right (non-shooting) shoulder — a possibility that was floated in the postgame press conference, with no pushback from Pope — it’s likely he would be granted an extra year as a medical redshirt. Those decisions will come soon. And nothing has been decided yet.
In the meantime, the Cats will be playing without their top point guard and presumptive leader.
As much as the Wildcats lamented what was happening to Lowe, they expressed optimism about others stepping up at the point guard spot.
None of the top three options — Denzel Aberdeen, Collin Chandler and Jasper Johnson — was selected by UK’s staff to talk to reporters after Friday’s game, but all were mentioned by Pope and the trio of Wildcats who did take questions.
“DA is the most natural point guard option,” said Jelavic, who tallied career highs of 11 points and seven rebounds in his fourth college game. “Of course, Collin and Jasper can also step up if needed.”
Aberdeen had actually been playing the starting point guard role as Lowe continued to work his way back from the initial injury. The senior guard — he played the past three seasons at Florida — scored a career-high 26 points in the Wildcats’ loss to Louisville on Tuesday night. He ended up with 13 points and two steals in the win over Eastern Illinois.
“DA is amazing,” Jelavic said. “... I respect him, because he’s not a guy who talks all the time — although he’s a senior, he’s a national champion, he doesn’t talk all the time. He likes to help guys, but he doesn’t talk all the time, and when he says something, it has some meaning, some presence.”
Aberdeen is averaging 15.3 points — tops among Kentucky players — through four games as a Wildcat, and he had a plus-37 rating in Friday’s game, the highest number on the team, by a wide margin.
Last season at Florida, he came off the bench — backing up Walter Clayton Jr. and the Gators’ formidable backcourt — and carved out a role as a key reserve on that national title team. Pope envisioned a bigger individual presence for him in his final season of college ball.
“He’s a great point guard,” said sophomore guard Kam Williams. “He was kind of under Walter’s shadow last year, you could say. So everyone kind of — I’m not gonna say (overlooked him) — but really doubted his role this year. But as you can see, he’s just exceeded everybody’s expectations, and he’s gonna keep doing that the rest of the year.”
Aberdeen has arguably been Kentucky’s best player through the small sample size of four games, and he looks like the clear option to spell Lowe with the lion’s share of minutes at the 1.
Chandler might be UK’s second-most-effective player at this early stage of the season. He’s averaging 11.3 points and leads the team from long range — 13 for 23, for 56.5% on 3-pointers — and he’s also No. 2 on the team in assists with 14. He has just four turnovers.
The sophomore guard has acknowledged he’s more comfortable at the 2 spot, but he has played the 1 some this season and talked earlier this week about gaining much more confidence in his ball handling since returning to basketball following his return from a two-year Mormon mission trip last spring.
Aberdeen’s primary backup at point guard might be Johnson, who is, somewhat surprisingly, leading the Cats with 16 assists through four games. He dished out seven of those Friday night against an overmatched Eastern Illinois team. He also has seven turnovers on the season — second on the team to Otega Oweh’s 10 — and he, too, is going through a difficult transition.
Johnson was viewed as one of the top perimeter scorers in the 2025 high school class. Pope has been trying since the summer to get more out of his game, and he made it clear before and after Friday’s game that he expects big things from Johnson as a point guard.
“I have a lot of faith in him that he can get where he wants to go,” Pope said. “He’s certainly not scared of the moment. I think he’s growing as a defensive player. I think he’s got an opportunity to be an elite-level playmaking passer, especially against different ball-screen looks.”
The UK coach stressed that Johnson “just needs time” to grow into a more effective player in Kentucky’s backcourt. The flashes have been evident.
“I think he’s a great option for us at the 1,” Pope said. “He’s an incredibly talented player. He’s going to be a star. You know, it’s just a learning process.”
Junior forward Mouhamed Dioubate, who led UK with 20 points and 11 rebounds against Eastern Illinois, has seen Johnson’s game mature since the freshman arrived on campus over the summer. Like his coach said, it’s a process. But there’s also a lot of season left.
“He’s trying to be more of a passer,” Dioubate said. “He’s trying to find guys more. Even some of his turnovers that he has is because he’s trying to look for other guys. His game has grown. He’s only a freshman, and he’s just picking up on things very fast. I think he’s going to be very big for us this year.”
Williams agreed with that assessment. And as much as these Cats would like to see Lowe back on the court as soon as possible, they’re already planning for what life might look like without him.
“We have a deep team,” Williams said. “So whenever one guy goes down, you know, it’s kind of a next-man-up kind of thing. Jasper, Denzel and also Collin, they’ve shown they can handle the ball. They can play the 1. So we’re just gonna keep doing what we’re doing.”
This story was originally published November 14, 2025 at 11:29 PM.
