Kentucky’s Jayden Quaintance will not play against LSU on Wednesday night
Jayden Quaintance still isn’t ready to return to the basketball court.
Kentucky’s projected NBA lottery pick will be sidelined for the team’s matchup with the LSU Tigers on Wednesday night. Quaintance was listed as “out” on the preliminary availability report that UK sent to the SEC on Tuesday night.
The Wildcats will play at LSU at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday. The game is on SEC Network.
Quaintance made his UK debut in a 78-66 victory over St. John’s on Dec. 20, his first game since suffering a torn ACL in February during his freshman season at Arizona State. Against St. John’s, the 6-foot-10 forward tallied 10 points and eight rebounds off the bench, playing the bulk of the second half and helping lead Kentucky to its biggest win of the season so far.
In the three games that followed — a win over Bellarmine and losses to Alabama and Missouri — he tallied only 10 points, 12 rebounds, one blocked shot and six turnovers.
Quaintance was a surprise addition to the UK availability report on the eve of the Cats’ 92-68 victory over Mississippi State on Saturday, ruled out for that game with what Kentucky coach Mark Pope later said was swelling in his surgically repaired knee.
Pope announced Monday night that starting point guard Jaland Lowe will miss the rest of the 2025-26 season with a shoulder injury. He said on his weekly radio show that the prognosis for Quaintance was much better.
“I think there’s much more positive information on him,” Pope said. “And so we’ll see over the next (few) days how his situation resolves.”
The UK coach spent Monday speaking in terms of “when” — not “if” — Quaintance will return to the Wildcats’ lineup. He made his first start in a Kentucky uniform in the loss to Missouri last week, and he projects to be one of the nation’s most effective defensive players when healthy.
Quaintance is viewed as a top-10 pick in this year’s NBA draft.
The sophomore big man was Kentucky’s only entry on the availability report Tuesday night, other than Lowe, who played in just nine games this season. Sophomore forward Trent Noah played only six seconds against Mississippi State, and Pope said Monday that he “banged knees” on his first defensive possession of that game.
Noah was “full go” in Monday’s practice, according to Pope, and he was not listed on UK’s availability report Tuesday night. Noah did not play in the team’s first two SEC games against Alabama and Missouri.
“I mean, he’s just tough as nails,” Pope said. “But there are going to be more spaces — guaranteed, 100% — there’s gonna be more spaces this season where he comes in and helps us win games. And he’s also got a great future as a basketball player.”
LSU has also been dealing with injuries.
Tigers point guard Dedan Thomas Jr. — the SEC’s assists leader — was listed as doubtful on the Tuesday availability report, and he was officially ruled out for the game on Wednesday’s final injury report. Thomas, who is leading LSU with 16.2 points and 7.1 assists per game, had already missed the team’s first three league games with a leg injury.
Junior forward Jalen Reed, who has made 39 career starts for the Tigers, suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in late November after playing in just six games this season. He was averaging 9.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.
LSU (12-4) is now the only winless team in the SEC after starting the league schedule with losses to Texas A&M, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
This story was originally published January 13, 2026 at 8:16 PM.
