5 things you need to know from Kentucky’s 107-59 rout of Valparaiso
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Gameday: No. 9 Kentucky 107, Valparaiso 59
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Friday’s Kentucky-Valparaiso men’s basketball game at Rupp Arena in Lexington.
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Five things you need to know from No. 9 Kentucky’s 107-59 win against Valparaiso in NCAA Division I men’s college basketball:
1. Jaland Lowe makes his season debut. The former Pittsburgh point guard entered a game as a Kentucky Wildcat for the first time with 16:33 left in the first half.
It did not take the 6-foot-1, 170-pound junior even one minute of game action to record his first UK assist, drawing the defense to himself with a drive then whipping the ball to a wide-open Denzel Aberdeen in the left corner for a 3-point basket that put Kentucky ahead 16-5 with 15:48 left in the first half.
Lowe wore a protective “sleeve” on the right shoulder he injured in UK’s Blue-White scrimmage on Oct. 17. That injury subsequently caused him to miss UK’s exhibition games against No. 1 Purdue (a 78-65 win) and the Georgetown Hoyas (an 84-70 loss) as well as Tuesday night’s season opener against Nicholls (a 77-51 victory).
Last season at Pitt, Lowe averaged 16.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists. However, his shooting percentages, 37.6% overall and 26.6% on 3-point shots, were not efficient.
He is expected to be Kentucky’s lead guard.
In his first game action as a Cat, Lowe played 18 minutes and made 2 of 7 shots and both his free throws and finished with six points and five assists.
2. Kentucky’s 3-point shooting. In the three contests prior to Friday night in which UK faced outside competition, the Wildcats had not exactly lit up Rupp Arena with outside-shooting accuracy.
For one half against Valparaiso, the Cats got the long-range artillery dialed in. In the first half against the Beacons, UK hit 7 of 13 treys, led by Collin Chandler’s 3 of 4.
That was a big improvement over Kentucky’s previous showings.
In the exhibition win over Purdue, UK made 9 of 29 treys, good for 31%.
For the exhibition loss to Georgetown, the numbers were worse, with the Cats were a horrid 7-for-30 on 3-pointers, a chilly 23.3%.
Then in the win over Nicholls to begin the regular season, UK made only 7 of 27 3-point attempts (25.9%).
Alas, in half two against Valpo, UK reverted to errancy from behind the arc. The Cats made only 4 of 14.
3. An in-state double-double. Kentucky freshman center Malachi Moreno finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds in 21 minutes.
The 7-foot, 252-pound product of Great Crossing High School in Scott County made 8 of 14 shots, half of his four free throws and also had three assists and a blocked shot.
It was the first double-double in a UK uniform for a product of Kentucky high school basketball since Reed Sheppard went for 11 points and 11 assists in Kentucky’s 95-76 win at Louisville in 2023-24.
4. UK’s plus/minus leader through two games. Through the first two regular-season contests, Kentucky’s combined leader in the plus/minus category is Alabama transfer Mouhamed Dioubate at plus-53.
He is followed in order by: Denzel Aberdeen +49, Otega Oweh +48, Collin Chandler +41, Malachi Moreno +40, Brandon Garrison +34, Kam Williams +30, Jasper Johnson +28, Jaland Lowe +23 (in only one game), Andrija Jelavic +22 and Trent Noah +4 (one game).
5. Cats vs. the MVC. The Missouri Valley Conference has long been a respected men’s basketball conference. Its Midwest-based membership is geographically close to the commonwealth of Kentucky.
Yet Friday night’s contest with Valparaiso was only the 12th game between UK and one of the teams currently in the MVC.
All-time, the Wildcats are now 3-0 against both Bradley and Valparaiso; 2-0 vs. Illinois State; and 1-0 vs. Belmont, Southern Illinois and Illinois-Chicago.
The Cats are 0-1 against Evansville, with John Calipari’s No. 1 Wildcats suffering a stunning 67-64 upset loss to the Purple Aces, then coached by former UK forward Walter McCarty, on Nov. 12, 2019.
UK has never played a game against current MVC members Drake, Indiana State, Murray State and Northern Iowa.
Overall, Friday night’s victory over Valpo makes Kentucky 11-1 all-time against the current membership of the Missouri Valley Conference.
This story was originally published November 7, 2025 at 9:06 PM.
