‘Turn Jasper loose’? It might be time for the Kentucky kid to make his mark
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Jasper Johnson likely to get first shot at bulk of backup point guard minutes.
- Pope praises Johnson’s passing, force and defense as signs he can handle minutes
- Johnson must convert high-school creativity into consistent play against top opponents
Toward the end of an emotional day, a question from a Kentucky basketball fan brought a smile to Mark Pope’s face.
Well, it wasn’t a question, really. More of a suggestion. That’s often how it works around here.
His weekly radio show drawing to a close Monday night, Pope listened as Tom Leach read out one more entry that was sent in by a listener just before the buzzer of the hourlong program.
“Turn Jasper loose,” Leach said, relaying the start of that message aloud. Pope, often an appreciator of UK fan chutzpah, grinned widely.
“Like I said earlier, Jasper has got a really, I think, underappreciated ability to pass the ball,” he said. “There is a learning curve. … Every rookie goes through this experience, and he’s been on a learning curve with his passing ability. But he’s getting more comfortable with finding seams and finding gaps and finding space to make plays. And he does have a nice chemistry with all of our bigs. He’s one of our most talented guys at hitting the roll, actually. So when he’s downhill and forceful, I think he has a real ability to do that.
“And I think we’ll see it more and more.”
At this point, Pope might not have any other choice but to turn Jasper Johnson loose.
Earlier in the show, the Kentucky coach announced that his starting point guard, Jaland Lowe, would undergo surgery for his ailing right shoulder and miss the rest of the 2025-26 season.
Lowe’s absence will mean more opportunities elsewhere, and while Denzel Aberdeen is the logical pick to assume the primary point guard duties, it’s sounding like Johnson — a 6-foot-5 freshman from Lexington — might get first shot at the bulk of the backup minutes.
A week ago, Lowe’s permanent loss might have seemed like a season-killer. Without the shifty point guard on the floor, the Cats had often looked completely lost offensively. But they finally appeared to turn a corner last Saturday night, when Lowe went down before the first TV timeout against Mississippi State and UK regrouped to run the Bulldogs off the court in the second half, leaving Rupp Arena with a 92-68 victory, the most complete performance of the season so far.
On Monday afternoon — before the decision was made to shut down Lowe for good — Pope was asked about the possibility of leaning on Johnson more if his top point guard was indeed done for the season.
“Jasper’s ready,” he declared. “He’s gone through a nonconference season. He’s worked really hard every single day. He’s showing on the court. He was another guy where his numbers didn’t jump out and grab you in the (Mississippi State) game, but the force and the decisiveness that he played with in the game — both on the offensive and defensive end — I was really pleased with it.
“And so he’s ready to go make a contribution. And we need him to. And regardless of the health on our team, we need him to, because he brings a unique skill set.”
That unique skill set made Johnson a coveted recruit in the 2025 class.
He was a clear-cut five-star prospect when Pope landed his commitment — beating out Alabama and North Carolina — but uneven play toward the end of the cycle led to a drop in stature, from No. 9 nationally at one point in his recruitment to No. 24 in the final 247Sports composite rankings.
His freshman season has largely been a struggle. And his numbers vary widely depending on the level of competition.
Jasper Johnson’s big shot
In seven appearances against lesser competition, Johnson is averaging 11.3 points and 4.9 assists in 21.6 minutes per game. In his eight matchups with high-major opposition, Johnson is averaging 3.1 points and 0.4 assists in 9.1 minutes per game.
Now in league play — and with 15 games of it remaining, starting Wednesday night at LSU — those high-major foes are all that Kentucky has left.
Yet, Pope has expressed optimism that Johnson will start to show more against better teams. There were flashes of it in the win over Mississippi State last Saturday night.
Johnson hit a key 3-pointer midway through the first half — to give UK its first lead of the game after falling in a double-digit hole early — and he showed off his slithery ability in the open floor with a coast-to-coast drive for a layup in the second half.
“I thought Jasper’s force in the game was really good. That’s my marker for him,” Pope said. “When he’s got some physicality and some force in the game, when he’s shoulders down, being really, really explosive in his slippery way — demanding that he can get where he wants on the floor — he’s a force.”
The UK coach said Monday that Johnson is “probably” the team’s most gifted passer and touted his “explosive” ability as a scorer. Pope said the 19-year-old is growing every day as a defender.
Kentucky’s leading scorer, Otega Oweh, lauded the backcourt’s next-man-up mentality after Lowe went down Saturday night, singling out his young teammate for praise.
“I think Jasper did a really good job coming in,” Oweh said. “You know, he’s going to continue to keep on getting better. I feel like every time he steps out there, he gets better. So that was good for him.”
There’s no debate that Johnson can do things that other players on this team simply can’t. He’s incredibly creative with the ball in his hands, and his ability to work his way into tight spaces made him one of the best backcourt scorers in his high school class.
But an overreliance on that ball-handling ability can get him into trouble, too. Especially against good college teams, Johnson has a tendency to dance around with the ball — a lot of dribbling without intent — and it’s led to some ugly possessions.
His only entry in the box score in the SEC opener at Alabama was a turnover, coming off a lazy pass that led to a Bama bucket as the Cats were desperately trying to come back in the second half.
Johnson left the game for good as soon as that basket was scored. He didn’t play at all in Kentucky’s shocking loss to Missouri four days later, his first DNP of the season. Had Lowe not been injured against Mississippi State, who knows what Johnson’s night might have looked like.
But, opportunity knocked.
“Jasper Johnson, I thought, was terrific off the bench,” Pope said that night. “I thought he was great. I thought this was his best high-major game, making sense of the game. … And so he’s gonna have to step up, maybe here (soon), and carry some significant minutes, and this was a really good sign for him. These young guys grow, man, and he’s been really hungry and working hard, and I expect that he’ll continue to grow.”
Johnson has seemingly been on the verge of a breakout before. He scored 22 points against North Carolina Central on Dec. 9, going 6 for 10 from the field and hitting all eight of his free throws. Later that month, he had 11 points — bolstered by 3-for-5 shooting from the perimeter — and seven assists with just one turnover in a win over Bellarmine.
But those performances came against two of Kentucky’s worst opponents. And when the big games followed, Johnson didn’t do much.
Now, big games are all that’s left on UK’s schedule. And the Cats will need their promising freshman to show some consistency down the stretch.
“One of the things I’ve been really proud of Jasper with, is that he’s been pretty relentless,” Pope said. “Listen, the game tries to do the same thing to everybody. It tries to distract you from the only thing that really matters, which is getting better every day. … Every single day you get distracted by anything — by wins and losses, or by minutes or points or praise or accolades or criticism — every minute that you get distracted is a minute that you’re not growing, that you’re falling behind. And you don’t have the opportunity to actually put yourself in a position to win.
“And I’ve been proud of Jasper. This has been a little bit of a zig-zag road for him, like it’s supposed to be. It’s supposed to be for a freshman, but he’s done a really solid job about staying focused on getting better.”
