What is the latest injury news for UK basketball ahead of Florida game?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- UK basketball will be without three players for its road game at Florida.
- Jaland Lowe, Jayden Quaintance and Kam Williams are all out for the Wildcats.
- The game between No. 25 UK and No. 14 Florida comes with first place in the SEC at stake.
On Saturday afternoon, the Kentucky Wildcats will play for first place in the SEC regular-season standings.
The highly anticipated matchup between No. 25 UK and No. 14 Florida at the O’Connell Center in Gainesville comes with plenty on the line.
And if Mark Pope’s Kentucky team is to pull off a road upset, the Cats will have to do so while playing shorthanded, again.
The SEC availability report for Saturday’s game lists three UK players as out. Junior guard Jaland Lowe, sophomore forward Jayden Quaintance and sophomore wing Kam Williams will all remain on the sidelines.
No Florida players are listed on the availability report. The Gators have won nine of their past 10 games.
This is the sixth straight game in which Lowe, Quaintance and Williams all won’t play. Kentucky is projected to have only nine scholarship players available for the Florida game. So far, UK has preserved redshirt seasons for freshman forward Braydon Hawthorne and junior forward Reece Potter.
Lowe is out for the season after undergoing surgery to address a series of right shoulder injuries that began in October. Williams is also recovering from surgery after he suffered a broken left foot last month during a home win over Texas.
The 6-foot-10 Quaintance — who was Kentucky’s top-rated addition from the transfer portal this past offseason — has played in only four games for the Wildcats due to knee issues.
He suffered a torn ACL during the 2024-25 season while playing as a freshman at Arizona State. Quaintance had surgery to address that injury in March and made his UK debut in a win over St. John’s on Dec. 20 in Atlanta. Quaintance’s most recent game for UK came on Jan. 7, when he started in a home loss to Missouri.
The 18-year-old Quaintance is set to miss his 10th straight game for Kentucky.
During his weekly press conference Thursday afternoon, Pope said Quaintance’s return to game action is “not imminent right now.”
“We started him on just a very, very, very light — not even return to play — just a little rehab, and there’s just a little bit of swelling that came back,” Pope said.
There’s also no timetable for Williams’ return. Previously, Pope said there was an “outside chance” Williams could return to action this season. Also on Thursday, Pope said Quaintance and Williams haven’t been ruled out for the remainder of the season.
Quaintance is expected to depart UK after this season to turn professional. In ESPN’s most recent ranking of 2026 NBA draft prospects, Quaintance checked in at No. 18 overall.
Saturday’s 3 p.m. matchup between Kentucky and Florida will be broadcast on ABC. Following Saturday’s game, Kentucky has only six games left in its regular season.
This story was originally published February 13, 2026 at 8:11 PM.
