Will Jayden Quaintance play again this season? Mark Pope is making no promises
Jayden Quaintance has appeared in only four games for the Kentucky Wildcats this season. Is that going to be it for his UK basketball career?
Coach Mark Pope offered up no promises on the situation Thursday afternoon, a day before his Cats travel to Fayetteville for a matchup with John Calipari’s 15th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks that’s set for 6:30 p.m. ET Saturday on ESPN.
“Well, he’s still dealing with a little bit of swelling in his knee, so we’re trying to make sure that we get to a great kickoff point,” Pope said of Quaintance’s potential return. “And I wish I could predict how that’s going to work. So, we don’t know. We actually don’t know.”
The 6-foot-10 sophomore forward has not appeared on the court for the Wildcats since the 73-68 loss to Missouri on Jan. 7. Quaintance made his UK debut on Dec. 20, tallying 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots in 17 minutes to help spark the Wildcats to a victory over No. 22 St. John’s, the team’s best win to that point in the season.
Quaintance’s insertion into the Kentucky lineup was seen at the time as a game-changer for the Cats, who went 0-4 against high-major competition to start the season. He played in three games after that — a win over Bellarmine and losses to Alabama and Missouri — but totaled only 10 points, 12 rebounds and one block across those appearances.
He hasn’t played since, and the Herald-Leader was told that Quaintance has also not been practicing with the team since his last on-court action in the loss to Mizzou more than three weeks ago. Pope confirmed that Thursday.
“Right now, he’s on full shutdown, in terms of his on-court work,” he said. “We’re doing everything we can with the performance team. One of the things — just in the immediate moment, (that’s a) challenge — is that every day he misses, he loses some of the strength that they worked so hard to develop. … And so, it’s a little bit of a complicated bag.
“I know his health, long term, is going to be excellent. It’s just in the immediate future, we’re trying to figure that out.”
Quaintance suffered a torn ACL as a freshman at Arizona State last February and underwent surgery for that injury in March. His UK debut against St. John’s came nine months and one day after his surgery date.
The 18-year-old is projected as a lottery pick in this year’s NBA draft, and he is expected to turn pro at the end of the season whether he plays for Kentucky again or not. Pope basically confirmed Thursday that he would not make his return to the court this weekend.
“He will not play Saturday at Arkansas, unless he gets better,” he said, the tone suggesting he did not expect Quaintance to be feeling that much better over the next two days.
Quaintance’s absence — coupled with injuries to point guard Jaland Lowe and 6-8 wing Kam Williams — has left Pope with just nine available, scholarship-level players for the time being.
Lowe had surgery for his season-ending right shoulder injury Wednesday, the UK coach confirmed. Pope said that would necessitate a six-month rehab process. Lowe is expected to receive a medical redshirt for this season and retain two years of NCAA eligibility.
Williams suffered a broken foot in a win over Texas last week and had surgery last Friday. Pope has not explicitly ruled him out for the remainder of the season, but he acknowledged Thursday that it will be a difficult road back for the sophomore.
“There’s maybe an outside, outside, outside chance that Kam could rejoin us at some point this season,” he said. “We’ll see.”
Pope is also leaving the door open for freshman forward Braydon Hawthorne to give up his redshirt season and join the Wildcats for the 2025-26 stretch run, but no final decision on his status has been made.
Kentucky (14-7, 5-3 SEC) will have nine games remaining in the regular season after Saturday’s trip to Arkansas.
