Andrija Jelavic Says Cats Must Stay Strong for Jaland Lowe

Injured point guard Jaland Lowe, right, cheered for his teammates during Friday’s win. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Andrija Jelavić insists he’s not “really an emotional guy,” but he admitted he was “really sad” when teammate Jaland Lowe was hurt in practice Thursday. The Kentucky sophomore said he got “goosebumps” when Lowe yelled for help after hurting the same shoulder he first hurt in June and then again in October during the Blue-White Game.

“When I heard it was the same shoulder, I was really sad for him, honestly. He’s a really good human being, outside of the court, very good player on the court, and I know how much this means to him,” Jelavic said after Friday night’s win over Eastern Illinois.

“I know how much he hates this, and although he’s not showing it, I know how upset he is, and honestly, we’re upset, but we need to stay strong for him. It’s nothing special for him to bounce back because he’s a strong guy that we shouldn’t make a big deal out of it. He’ll be back sooner than later.”

Lowe was on the bench Friday night, cheering for his teammates, but UK Radio Network analyst Jack Givens said it was clear he was in obvious pain. Kentucky coach Mark Pope said after the game that there is no timeline for Lowe’s return until after his family and medical personnel finish discussions on what will be best for him.

Denzel Aberdeen had 13 points and one assist in 23 minutes on Friday, while freshman Jasper Johnson had eight points on 3-for-7 shooting, along with seven assists and five rebounds in 19 minutes. Collin Chandler also had four points and four assists in 19 1/2 minutes.

“I think we’re a team that no matter what player is missing, it doesn’t feel like it’s missing because we really have a lot of players on each position and if Jaland went down, Aberdeen, Chandler, Jasper, everyone steps up,” Jelavic, who had 11 points and seven rebounds in 15 1/2 minutes, said.

“It would be the same if someone else went down. Some other guys will step up and that’s just the beauty and strength of this team.”

Jelavic said the team was convinced it would bounce back defensively after giving up 96 points against Louisville in Tuesday’s loss.

“We had really good defensive performances before. I think the biggest reason is they play so fast, so many transition points were because we made bad decisions on offense. We had turnovers as a result,” Jelavic said about the Louisville loss. “They were attacking us three to one. They have more players and you know, it just looked like we played bad defense.

“I mean we did but I think our turnovers were one of the reasons why but we’ll learn from it. They’re good players and we’re going to play even better teams and we need to be defensively the best team in the country if we want to achieve our goal.”