Jaland Lowe “tweaked” his shoulder in a collision Friday night but UK coach Mark Pope didn’t think it was a serious injury. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky had one final dress rehearsal on Friday night with a Blue-White scrimmage at Memorial Coliseum.
Senior and Southeastern Conference preseason player of the year Otega Oweh played limited minutes in the scrimmage, which featured a pair of 10-minute quarters, with the second half ending with an Elam finale.
Freshman Jasper Johnson scored 10 to lead the Blue squad that defeated the White team 35-26. Andrija Jelavic added eight points off the bench and hit the game-winner, while Malachi Moreno had four points and nine rebounds for the Blue team.
Johnson credited his teammates for providing a lift in the exhibition.
“They were all encouraging me,” he said. “My coaching staff, so I just let the game come to me. I did what I needed to do to help impact winning, and that’s all that matters.”
Although an intrasquad scrimmage, the contest was competitive and physical from start to finish, which was no surprise to second-year coach Mark Pope.
“It’s what they do – It’s like this group loves to compete, they love to compete,” Pope said. “It’s just the right time now we’ve got to move on and start competing against somebody besides ourselves, like everybody else in the country. It’s just time to go compete against someone else.”
Jaland Lowe, the starting point guard, left in the second half after going down with an apparent shoulder injury and didn’t return. Jayden Quaintance didn’t compete in the scrimmage as he continues to recover from an ACL injury.
Pope didn’t have an immediate update on Lowe following the contest.
“He just tweaked his shoulder, so we’ll see,” Pope said. “(We) sat him down out of precaution. We’ll know more tomorrow. We’ll probably (know more) tomorrow, and kind of see how it responds tomorrow. He’s an incredibly tough, young man, so I’m sure whatever it is, he’ll battle through it well.”
Lowe led the White team with nine points, while Mouhamed Dioubate followed with eight. Dioubate, an Alabama transfer, said the contest was played with “high intensity.”
“I think the Blue team, they had an edge on us,” he said. “They played harder than we did. They got more second chance opportunities than we did and got more transition points.”
The women’s basketball played two quarters and defeated the all-male practice squad 43-32. The starting lineup consisted of Jordan Obi, Tonie Morgan, Clara Strack, Amelia Hassett and Teonni Key.
The women’s basketball team was without Dominika Paurova, who tore her ACL earlier this week and will miss the remainder of the season.
Paurova, a Czech Republic native, played her freshman season at Oregon State in 2023-24, where she averaged 5.5 points per game, 2.1 rebounds per game and 1.4 assists per game, but missed her first season after suffering a similar injury prior to the last season.
8 Responses
The players that helped themselves to more playing time: Johnson, Jelavic, Moreno, Lowe (when he is healthy), Dioubate
The players who didn't hurt themselves for playing time: Noah, Garrison, Potter
The players who hurt themselves for more playing time: Chandler, Aberdeen, Williams, Hawthorne, Oweh who was shaking off rust from the toe injury
The starting 5 for the Purdue game: Johnson, Oweh, Garrison, Jelavic, and Dioubate, with Noah being a quick sub if Oweh gets off to a rough start.
First 5 subs for the Purdue game: Moreno, Noah, Aberdeen, Potter, and Williams
For whatever reason, Chandler seems to be slow coming out of the gates as was Williams and Hawthorne. They need to step up their game if they want PT come the SEC schedule. Oweh may struggle against Purdue, but I look for him to be back on track by the Valparaiso game. If Johnson continues to shine at the point, does he continue to start? I would say Yes if Lowe is out for an extended period of time. Garrison better step up his game if Moreno keeps playing like he did. Jelavic settled the question about the 4 spot. He earned it last night and with Williams subpar night, Dioubate secures the 3. Noah needs to be more assertive on offense. He is the best shooter on the team.
Didn't get to see the games but it sounds like some of the performances a little underwhelming. Maybe a little surprised that Morena only had 4 pts, and I think a carryover question from last year that remains is Garrison finally ready to accept a higher level of performance and reliability than last?
Not sure about that Kahuna. Moreno outplayed him last night.
Advantage to you PB if you did see the game. Who did Moreno outplay? If it was Garrison then he disappeared many games then, but I think he has been saying that willing to take more leadership role this year.
Garrison had an ok game, but Moreno was the best 5 man on the floor.
Certainly was on this night
Hopefully we will get more than 1 assist per half out of Lowe going forward.
Yes, he did a lot of dribbling looking for his own shot. That was the way he had to play at Pittsburgh. He will have to be a pass first guy here…if he can make that transition.