What’s the latest on Kentucky basketball forward Mouhamed Dioubate’s injury?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- UK basketball coach Mark Pope provided an injury update during his weekly radio show.
- Pope discussed guard Jaland Lowe and forwards Mouhamed Dioubate and Jayden Quaintance.
- Kentucky hosts North Carolina Central on Tuesday night at Rupp Arena.
During his weekly radio show Monday night, Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope provided an injury update on junior forward Mouhamed Dioubate.
Pope said Dioubate — who has missed UK’s past four games with a high ankle sprain — continues to make progress in his recovery.
“He’s kind of day-to-day,” Pope said.
An offseason transfer from Alabama, Dioubate has been Kentucky’s starting power forward this season. He suffered the ankle sprain — which Pope has described as including “a torn ligament” in Dioubate’s ankle area — in the closing minutes of a blowout loss to Michigan State on Nov. 18. Among the games Dioubate has missed with the injury have been UK’s high-major losses to North Carolina (last Tuesday at Rupp) and Gonzaga (last Friday in Nashville).
Dioubate is averaging 11.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists and one steal in five games, all starts, for the Wildcats (5-4) this season. He was expected to bring a physical edge for the Cats on both ends of the floor, but that’s something Kentucky has been sorely missing in recent games.
In last week’s home loss to North Carolina, Kentucky allowed 20 offensive rebounds and lost second-chance points by a staggering 22-5 margin. In Friday’s loss to Gonzaga, the Wildcats were out-rebounded 43-31 and lost points in the paint by a 46-18 mark. Kentucky’s 35-point setback to Gonzaga was the program’s worst defeat since 2008.
Pope also provided short injury updates on junior point guard Jaland Lowe and sophomore forward Jayden Quaintance.
Lowe returned to in-game action for Kentucky in Friday’s loss to Gonzaga after missing the previous five games with a right shoulder injury. Pope said Lowe is seeing “limited improvement” as he manages the shoulder injury, which originally occurred during the Blue-White Game in October.
Lowe had one assist, point, rebound and turnover each in 14 minutes against the Bulldogs.
“Jaland has an incredible talent. He’s got a ton of get-by (speed). He’s a guy that doesn’t need a bunch of actions for him to be able to get downhill and get in the paint,” Pope said. “He’s got terrific vision. He’s a laser-pass guy, on-time, on-target guy. We just haven’t had him on the floor. We haven’t had him on the practice floor. So, he has a chance to have a really, really, really massive, positive impact on this team. The more reps we get, the more minutes in game, and in practice frankly, I think that he has the chance, like I said, to have a big impact on our progress.”
Pope said Quaintance, a transfer from Arizona State, is still “a ways away” from making his UK debut. Quaintance continues to recover from a torn ACL suffered near the end of last season while he was playing for the Sun Devils.
“He’s making tremendous progress,” Pope added about Quaintance.
After falling out of the Associated Press Top 25 rankings Monday afternoon, Kentucky will host North Carolina Central (3-8) on Tuesday night at Rupp Arena. Indiana (7-2) visits UK on Saturday night.
This story was originally published December 8, 2025 at 6:23 PM.
