Jaland Lowe knows teams might play him ‘a little dirty.’ He’s dealing with it
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Lowe returned from shoulder injuries and set tone with diving defensive play.
- He wears a visible brace, adapts positioning to avoid screens and protect shoulder.
- Kentucky’s offense depends on Lowe’s playmaking; his availability shapes season.
The game tied at 11 and nearing the midway point of the first half last Saturday night, Jaland Lowe jumped an Indiana passing lane and showed everyone watching what he was all about.
Lowe, the Kentucky Wildcats’ top point guard, had missed six of his team’s 10 games — playing at less than 100% in the other four — going into the eventual 72-60 victory over the Hoosiers. He injured his right shoulder in UK’s Blue-White Game during the preseason. He reinjured the shoulder in a Nov. 13 practice session, two days after the Cats’ loss to Louisville.
The matchup with Indiana marked his third game back from that, and Lowe checked in eager to make an impact. While his presence opened up Kentucky’s offense and he was responsible for the Cats’ final three buckets to ice the win down the stretch, that defensive play in the first half is the one that will be remembered.
Lowe ran around an attempted screen and knocked away a pass intended for IU star Lamar Wilkerson. The ball shot downcourt, destined to go out of bounds, but Lowe didn’t give up. The lightning-quick, 6-1 junior sprinted down the sideline and leapt after it, laying out completely in an attempt to save the possession.
The ball was ruled out despite Lowe’s best effort, and he tumbled end over end smack into the broadcast table, coming to a rest in a sitting position and staying there for a second. The fans in Rupp Arena got a little quiet. Had UK’s most important playmaker suffered another injury?
When Lowe popped up, as teammates converged to show their appreciation, the Rupp fans got loud again, letting him know they liked what they had just seen, too.
On the ESPN broadcast, Dick Vitale raved about Lowe’s hustle.
“That’s what they want to see here,” fellow announcer Charles Barkley chimed in. “That’s what they demand here.”
There was grit galore for the Cats that night, and Lowe’s hustle helped set the tone.
“My trainer would probably advise me to not do that again,” he told the Herald-Leader following the game, laughing to himself after that statement. “But I think it was like a tone-setter. I just wanted to show these guys that I’m all in.”
Lowe implied that he fell the way he did intentionally — to protect that right shoulder — and he got a scrape on his back as a result.
“I think just setting the tone for the guys, like, ‘I’m all in. I’m gonna dive on this floor. I’m gonna play just as hard as everybody else, no matter what tonight,’” he continued. “Now, I’m going to always try to be smart. But I had to make sure that my guys knew.”
That’s the type of play Lowe has some measure of control over. But there’s so much on the court that will be outside of his control.
There was a stretch in the first half when Indiana appeared to be trying to run Lowe into screens on his right side. After the game, he confirmed he saw the same thing.
“Yeah, I mean, I know what’s going to come with it,” Lowe said. “I know teams are going to set screens on my right side. Might play a little dirty, try and pull (my arm), whatever. But it’s just a little different. It’s hard to play — a little bit hard to play — with a brace like that. It’s really restricting. You don’t want to allow too much motion in your arm like that.
“So it’s very different. I gotta get used to it. But, at the end of the day, I’m a basketball player, and I gotta go out there and play basketball to the best of my ability. And I know I can still play at a very high level, no matter what’s going on.”
Lowe knows he has to be smart with his right shoulder. He did his best to avoid those screens against Indiana — sliding out at odd angles to try and work around them — and he’s banking on teams in the future taking more direct shots when the games get extra physical.
The brace he wears is impossible to miss, and Lowe said “the plan” will be to wear it the rest of the season. He doesn’t anticipate feeling much better in March than he does in December. How close is he to being “100% Jaland Lowe”?
“In my mind, 100% Jaland Lowe would be no shoulder injury at all and not having to wear a brace,” he said. “But I’m the best I’m gonna be. And I’m gonna continue working every day to hold myself to that standard.”
As he’s reacclimated himself to actual games — Lowe was Pittsburgh’s starting point guard last season and one of the top-ranked players at his position in the transfer portal — he’s also been forced to figure out how to play with that brace and how to protect his non-shooting shoulder.
“Just being thoughtful of not putting my arm in certain ways, where it could be pulled a certain way or direction awkwardly, and things like that,” he said. “But I think I’ve got a pretty good idea of how to play going forward — in a smart but hard way — so that it doesn’t really affect anything on the court.”
That’s likely easier said than done.
Lamont Butler, the Cats’ point guard last season, injured his shoulder during a physical game with Texas A&M, reinjured it in a loose-ball scramble against Tennessee and hurt it again in an SEC Tournament loss to Alabama.
Butler played the NCAA Tournament at less than 100% as a result.
Like Butler, Lowe plays a style that invites contact.
He has a reputation for making tough buckets, and that often means throwing his body into larger defenders in an attempt to get points at the rim. His role as the point of attack defensively means he’ll be dealing with screens all season. And if he ventures into the paint for rebounds or enters a scrum in hopes of coming up with a loose ball, something bad could always happen.
Kentucky has a physical St. John’s team Saturday and — after a home date with Bellarmine on Tuesday afternoon — 18 regular-season games in the rough-and-tumble SEC. And then whatever comes next.
Lowe, who missed just one game — due to a concussion — in two years at Pitt, knows that if his shoulder pops out a third time in the next three months or so, it could mean the end of his season. And that would obviously be a major negative for a Kentucky offense that clearly looks its best with him in the lineup.
No other Wildcat can carve up a defense off the dribble like he can. None of his teammates can trigger the transition game quite like Lowe, and that’s what coach Mark Pope wants from this offense. UK’s scoring attack won’t come close to reaching its ceiling without its top point guard.
Lowe wouldn’t go so far as to say the offense looks better with him on the court.
“I mean, you guys will have to judge that for me,” he said.
But the Cats outscored the Hoosiers by 24 points in the 24 minutes that Lowe was on the floor. Open your eyes, and the impact is impossible to miss. As Lowe continues to get comfortable on the court, UK’s offense should trend in a positive direction.
Can he stay on the court all season? That’s the real question.
“Just being sidelined and watching, I know what I can bring for the team,” he said. “And that’s just what I try to do when I step in the game now. … But I think these guys have a good idea of what looks good and what doesn’t look good. And we’re just going to try and build on everything in a positive way.”
