Mo Dioubate likely will miss tonight's game due to an ankle injury. (Vicky Graff Photo)
As expected Kentucky will be without point guard Jaland Lowe when it hosts Loyola (Md.) tonight trying to bounce back from Tuesday’s beatdown against Michigan State.
However, the Cats apparently could be without Mo Dioubate, who was injured late in the loss to Michigan State. Pope confirmed Thursday it is an ankle problem and that he did not expect Dioubate to practice making his playing status a game-time decision.
“I would think there’s probably some significant chance he won’t play. But he’s tough as nails,” Pope said.
Dioubate is averaging 11.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 20.4 minutes per game and shooting 62.2 percent from the field despite only going 1-for-11 from 3-point range.
Lowe, a lefty, originally injured his right shoulder in June after transferring from Pittsburgh to Kentucky. He hurt it again in mid-October and then injured it a third time in practice last week after UK’s loss at Louisville.
“We’re still in consultation, still seeing how rehab goes. So right now, it’s just a matter of like, can he get to a place where he feels some stability and some strength? I wish I had better answers for you right now, but it really is a day-to-day kind of process to see where he ends up,” Pope said.
“He’s got really good mobility right now, so it’s just a matter of stability and strength and kind of see what we get and take another swing if he can.”
Pope said after last week’s win over Eastern Illinois that Lowe, his family, medical team and UK coaches will discuss what is best for the player going forward. The family is still gathering information/feedback and then will have to decide whether to have surgery now, take a redshirt year and have two years of eligibility left or try to play through the pain and hope the shoulder does not continue to pop out of place.
Lowe averaged 16.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.8 steals per game as a sophomore at Pitt. He was expected to be UK’s playmaker for Pope’s offense.
Florida transfer Denzel Aberdeen has been starting at point guard with Lowe out. Freshman Jasper Johnson and sophomore Collin Chandler have been backing up Aberdeen, who leads the Cats in scoring at 14.2 points per game and is also averaging 4.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists and a team-high 1.4 steals per game.
6 Responses
So now we have 3 key players out on our BB team. I would be curious to know if any other SEC schools had that many. Our FB team has double our opponents again this week…UK 11 and Vandy 5. It has been like that most of FB season. Do we have players that really don't want to fight thru injuriest or play for this team?
Play the walk-ons. Their just as good as anyone else at the moment.
Bounce back ? Beating the brakes off a Loyola doesn't qualify as a bounce back.
Mo-d was a great player at Alabama were there is actually discipline and he wasn't allowed to shoot the 3 unless he was wide open and could set his feet before the shot. Here he just jacks up 3s contested feet aren't squared with the basket. They shots don't even look close. He needs to be told to not shoot it unless he is open. He is better when he shoots short jumpers and takes the ball to the rim and draw fouls or and ones. And ones should be the only 3 pointer he is allowed to go after. At times it looks like he's trying to pad his stats. Kentucky comes down passes to the wing and whether contested or not they throw up circus shots. I would play only the bench. Oweh only worries about scoring in double figures. Even though half of his points always come from the free throw line. He also shoots ridiculous shots but not as much as Mo-D. Add in Lowe and you have 3 starters who shoot shots with teammates wide open. I would play Aberdeen/Chandler/Williams/Jelavic/Moreno. They might need to burn the redshirts and play Hawthorne and Potter. Potter is the best shooting big we have. Mark Popes offense you have to be able to shoot 3s or the offense is irrelevant. Garrison isn't a good shooter. Moreno isn't a good shooter either. That messes the flow of the offense up. Last year we had Carr who could shoot the 3 and Williams who was great at the top of the key. This year we have Mo-D who can't shoot either. We need to play Jelavic more. We need to play Potter. I think Potter would really open things up for the offense. If you back off of him to pack the paint he can knock down 3s. Hawthorne could play the 3. He was actually rated higher than Jasper Johnson in the rankings. He can also knock down the 3. We don't need 12 all stars. We need a cohesive unit.
Playing against Kentucky is what made Dioubate look so good last year.
That is true we had no defense. Pope is terrible at coaching defense.
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