‘All options are on the table.’ What’s next for UK basketball and Jaland Lowe?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kentucky basketball guard Jaland Lowe suffered another right shoulder.
- Lowe’s latest injury came during UK’s home win over Mississippi State.
- Lowe has battled a lingering right shoulder injury since October.
Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope said “all options are on the table” regarding the playing status of starting point guard Jaland Lowe following the latest reoccurrence of Lowe’s right shoulder injury.
Lowe — who has started at point guard for the Wildcats in their past two SEC games — saw his lingering right shoulder injury flare up again during the first half of UK’s home win over Mississippi State on Saturday night.
Lowe reinjured his right shoulder when swiping at the ball while playing defense less than three minutes into the contest. He didn’t return to the game.
Postgame, Pope said UK would have more information about Lowe’s injury Sunday morning.
“He just tweaked his shoulder. We’ll kind of see how it responds in the morning,” Pope said. “And we’ll see where we’re at with him.”
On Sunday, Pope said, UK would have “a little bit more data and information” based on Lowe’s shoulder responded overnight
“We’ll start the process of making an educated decision. It could be no games,” Pope said. “It could be a few games. It could be all the games. It could be any of those things.”
In addition to Lowe’s first-half injury, the Wildcats were also without sophomore forward Jayden Quaintance against Mississippi State. Quaintance, a projected lottery pick in this summer’s NBA draft, is dealing with swelling in his knee as he works his way back into playing shape following a torn ACL suffered last February.
“These guys have great futures in basketball, but they’re dying to play right now,” Pope added about the process that comes with injured players. “... You want to protect their future, but you don’t want to steal their present from them.”
Lowe, a junior who previously played two seasons at Pittsburgh, has dealt with a lingering right shoulder injury since October, when he first sustained the injury during Kentucky’s preseason Blue-White Game.
Since then, Lowe reinjured his right shoulder during practice Nov. 13 and during the first half of UK’s win over St. John’s on Dec. 20. On that occasion, Lowe sat out the rest of that period before returning in the second half to help lead the Cats to their best win of the season so far.
Lowe also sat out Kentucky’s nonconference finale, a win over Bellarmine on Dec. 23.
After coming off the bench in his first seven appearances for UK, Lowe was inserted into the UK starting lineup this week for the home loss to Missouri and the win over Mississippi State.
