Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 99-85 win vs. Bellarmine
Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 99-85 win vs. Bellarmine:
1. Jayden Quaintance’s encore. The Kentucky big man made a smashing Wildcats debut in UK’s 78-66 win over St. John’s in last Saturday’s CBS Sports Classic.
Returning from the torn ACL he suffered last season while playing for Arizona State, the 6-foot-10, 255-pound Quaintance logged 17 minutes vs. Rick Pitino’s Red Storm and produced 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots.
The Cleveland, Ohio, product hit 5 of 7 shots and grabbed five offensive rebounds vs. St. John’s.
On Tuesday afternoon vs. Bellarmine, Quaintance played briefly in each half. He checked in for the first time with 15:38 left in the first half and played until the 10:48 mark of the opening half.
In that time, Quaintance scored on a layup off a feed from Otega Oweh; hit 1 of 2 free throws; grabbed a couple of rebounds; and had a memorable turnover when he had the ball tipped away from behind while on the dribble while trying to lead a fast break.
Quaintance also entered the game in the second half after the first media timeout (15:25).
In his second stint, Quaintance hit 1 of 2 foul shots, had another turnover caused by putting the ball on the floor and exited with 12:13 left in the game. He finished with four points and two rebounds.
2. Mark Pope practices load management with Jaland Lowe. Injuries to his right shoulder have limited the Kentucky point guard to six game appearances so far this season.
Lowe left the St. John’s game after only seven seconds of first half playing time after taking a blow to his injured shoulder. He returned after halftime to score 13 points and lead the Wildcats to a come-from-behind victory.
Against Bellarmine, Mark Pope was practicing NBA-style load maintenance with Lowe. The junior point guard was dressed out but did not play.
Playing without Lowe in what was a “get-away” game prior to the holiday break may have impacted UK’s sense of urgency. The defensive intensity which Kentucky brought in the wins over Indiana and North Carolina was not visible against Bellarmine — which hit 26 of 50 shots (52%).
Still, with Lowe not playing against the Knights, the UK point guard will go from Dec. 20 (the St. John’s game) to Jan, 3 (when UK return to action after the holidays at Alabama) without having to risk re-injuring his shoulder in a game.
3. UK’s other perimeter players shine. Even without Jaland Lowe, Kentucky’s guards and wings had their way vs. Bellarmine.
Kam Williams hit 8 of 10 3-pointers and scored a college-career-high 26 points.
Freshman guard Jasper Johnson had 11 points, seven assists and three rebounds.
Otega Oweh flirted with a triple-double but had to settle for a double-double — 10 points, eight rebounds and a career-high 10 assists.
Florida transfer Denzell Aberdeen hit 4 of 7 3-pointers and scored 14 points.
4. Cats’ all-time mark vs. in-state Division I foes. With the victory over Bellarmine, Kentucky ran its overall mark vs. the other seven NCAA Division I teams from the commonwealth to 74-20.
UK’s record vs. the other in-state D-I programs is:
• Bellarmine 2-0
• Eastern Kentucky 12-0
• Louisville 40-18
• Morehead State 12-0
• Murray State 0-0
• Northern Kentucky 2-0
• Western Kentucky 6-2
As UK head man, Mark Pope is now 3-1 vs. in-state foes: 1-0 vs. Bellarmine; 1-1 vs. Louisville; 1-0 vs. Western Kentucky.
5. Checking in on the all-time wins race. With its victory over Bellarmine, Kentucky improved its season record to 9-4. That means the Wildcats have lost one game so far this year to Kansas (10-3) in the NCAA Division I men’s college basketball all-time wins race.
UK opened the 2025-26 campaign with an eight-game advantage, 2,422 to 2,414, over KU in all-time wins.
With both teams entering a holiday break from game action, the Wildcats’ lead over the Jayhawks is now seven wins, 2,431 to 2,424.
Kentucky’s next game is Jan. 3, when the Wildcats will open SEC play at Alabama.
The next time Kansas will play is also Jan. 3, when the Jayhawks will commence Big 12 action at Central Florida.
This story was originally published December 23, 2025 at 3:06 PM.
