Vicky Graff Photo
He will not play against No. 1 Purdue in Friday’s exhibition game in Rupp Arena but junior point guard Jaland Lowe should be back on the court for Kentucky soon.
The Pittsburgh transfer injured his right shoulder — non-shooting arm — a week ago when he collided with teammate Otega Oweh during the Blue-White Game.
“His recovery’s been epically fast,” Kentucky coach Mark Pope said Thursday. “He’s feeling really good. He was back shooting yesterday, full speed.
“We’ll probably keep him out of live contact for at least another week, just to make sure. He’s a massively important part of this season, so we’re gonna make sure that he’s healthy before he’s rolling out.”
Kentucky fans remember what happened last year when point guard Lamont Butler injured his shoulder and was never fully healthy the rest of the season. He missed seven games due to the shoulder injury
“I think the biggest thing has just been the pain associated with it,” Pope said when asked about the differences between the Butler and Lowe injuries. “Lamont was battling pain every single day to try and get to a healthy point, and Jaland actually was pretty pain free, really, really quickly.
“That’s probably the biggest difference right now. And, structurally, there are some differences, but that’s kind of the most palpable difference.”
Lowe averaged 16.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.8 steals per game as a sophomore at Pitt last season when he averaged 35.5 minutes per game. He missed only one game the last two seasons and that was due to a concussion.
With Lowe out, Pope said he would look at Denzel Aberdeen, Jasper Johnson and Collin Chandler all at point guard.
Kentucky will host a second exhibition game against Georgetown next week before starting regular season play by hosting Nicholls on Nov. 4, and then will Valparaiso Nov. 7.
That will set the stage for UK’s showdown with Louisville Nov. 11 in the Yum Center.
8 Responses
This is a good thing; it gives us a chance to find out who can play the backup point the best. I would think that Chandler, Aberdeen, and Johnson will all get time there. This is Chandler's time to show that he deserves that role since he has already played for Pope 1 season. This is Aberdeen's time to do the same because of his national championship experience. It is Johnson's time to show that he is just that good.
Who will be the other 4 starters? Oweh at the 2 and Garrison at the 5 are givens but Noah and Moreno will definitely get big minutes. All of the talking heads say Dioubate will start at the 4 with Jelavic getting big minutes. If that plays out, Williams will start at the 3. Personally, I would start Jelavic at the 4 and Dioubate at the 3. I would like to see how Potter fares against a strong team…I think he would surprise a lot of people. We will see Lowe again against Georgetown. I would love to see Quaintance make a cameo appearance for just a minute or two each half. It would be a good barometer for his recovery and give him more hope for playing in November instead of December.
It would be great to get a win but more value will come from Pope playing guys at different positions to see who can do what, where…against a quality team. I would shoot at giving everyone 16 minutes, 4 to Quaintance, and let Horn and Tow have 10 minutes each. Figure out who earned the right to start against Georgetown with Lowe coming in off the bench. Give everyone 15 minutes, with Lowe and Quaintance getting an extra 5 minutes if all is going well for them and Horn and Tow still get 5 minutes each.
In the Nichols game, Pope chooses his starters who will get 22 minutes each with the first 5 backups getting 16. I would give Quaintance 8 minutes with 2 minutes of mop up for the rest. Do the same for the Valparaiso game and see if Quaintance would be ready for 10 minutes against Lousyville. If his body and game respond well, he could see 12 minutes against Michigan State, North Carolina, and Gonzaga. 10 to 12 minutes per game of Quaintance even in a recovery/discovery mode would be huge for having him ready for SEC play. Give him 15 minutes against Indiana and he should be ready for 16 against Alabama. Getting a win at Bama would be huge for setting the tone and expectations for the rest of the SEC slate of games.
Jasper is just that good.
Yes he is. Lot of doubters will go away after tonight
We know that UK always seems to have the highest number of FB injuries reported each week, but has the same thing been happening on the BB side as well. How many times have we recruited Studs to our program, and they may have some reported injury that ends up keeping them from playing even one game? It sounds like some people are trying to protect JQ and keep him sidelined for the year to protect his Pro future. I don't remember any other SEC schools having this same yearly problem.
I agree about the opportunity this gives those wanting in the rotation to strut their stuff.
I think Chandler has looked good this preseason, except in the B/W game last week. I still expect him to make a jump over last year's level of play.
I know nothing about Aberdeen, but in the B/W game, he consumed 7 possessions to put up 4 points. Compared to Lowe, who played 12 minutes and also consumed 7 possessions but he put up 9 points.
Johnson, as with Aberdeen, is an unknown to me. However, in the B/W game, he played 9 minutes, consumed a team high 9 possessions to produce 10 points.
Looking forward to these 2 exhibition games to learn more about this trio.
BTW, Noah consumed 4 possessions to score 6 points.
However, the star of the night, FWIW is Moreno who played 19 minutes, and consumed only 1 possession and scored 4 points. No, he did not make a 3 pointer and convert a foul shot. He had 4 scoring opportunities, and committed 1 turnover and had 1 steal. However, he had 4 offensive rebounds, and each of them gave his team an extra scoring opportunity.
I want to see more work on the boards from this team than Pope's first team gave.
Colin Chandler was a +15 tonight to lead the team per Mark Pope.
I've been watching Jasper since the 8th grade and I knew he was going to be good but not this good this soon. I'm trying hard not to get too excited.
Johnson and Moreno had strong games and this was their first college game! They have set the bar pretty high for themselves…can they keep up this level of play for a season? Nobody had a bad game, except for Purdue…they are not the number one team in the country. Lousyville got spanked by Kansas at the Yum Center. Arkansas looked good thumping Cincinatti in Fayetteville, Missouri had a strong offensive showing against Kansas State in Columbia scoring 100 points but K State tallied 91, and BYU got by North Carolina by 2 in Salt Lake City. Thank God for basketball season! The NCAA should shorten the football season by 3 games and add 6 more games to the basketball season!
Player Minutes Points Possessons ROE RNE ANE
Noah 24 10 7 1.429 0.473 0.733
Garrison 18 7 5 1.400 0.444 0.704
Johnson 19 15 11 1.364 0.408 0.668
Dioubate 19 8 6 1.333 0.377 0.637
Moreno 22 8 7 1.143 0.187 0.447
Jelavic 20 3 3 1.000 0.044 0.304
Oweh 17 10 10 1.000 0.044 0.304
Chandler 16 2 2 1.000 0.044 0.304
Williams 16 6 6 1.000 0.044 0.304
Aberdeen 29 9 11 0.818 -0.138 0.122
Hawthorne 0 0 0 0.000 -0.956 -0.696
Team 200 78 68 1.147 0.191 0.451
What an outstanding way to open this season. From my perspective, Noah, Garrison, Johnson, and Dioubate were the headliners, with Moreno not far behind the lead pack.
I liked the low turnover rate, the powerful defensive rebounding, and the interior offense, inside 10 feet, was outstanding.
I am concerned about 3 point shooting, especially shot selection and the variety of players jacking them up, and I am concerned about weak offensive board work. I am also concerned about a slow pace, about 68 possessions last night after only 30 +/- possessions in the 20 minute B/W game.
The defense was solid.
The game ANE of 0.45 ppp is very strong against any opponent at any point of the season.
Next up, Georgetown. I don't think this team will have any trouble with Georgetown, perhaps a 20-30 point win.
Buckle up and enjoy the ride.