Jaland Lowe heads off the court after re-injuring his right shoulder early in Saturday's win. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Jaland Lowe just won’t stay down.
Three times since June, he’s dislocated his right shoulder, but he keeps coming back for more, even though it looked like Saturday he might be overdoing it.
Lowe played only seven seconds in the first half against St. John’s before heading to the dressing room after hurting his shoulder again. Kentucky scored only 25 points in the first half and missed 18 of 28 shots to trail 32-25 in Atlanta.
Most assumed he was done for at least Saturday’s game and maybe much longer. Instead, he came back in the second half to score 13 points and hand out three assists as Kentucky rallied for a needed 78-66 win. He also played a significant role in limiting UK’s turnovers to five in the second half after the Cats committed 11 in the first half.
St. John’s coach Rick Pitino said Lowe was the difference for Kentucky in the second half.
“They’re a different basketball team,” he said. “He makes people better (and) very tough to guard his pick and rolls.”
Kentucky coach Mark Pope put Lowe into the game with 17 minutes, 7 seconds to play, and UK outscored St. John’s 53-34 in the second half.
“My locker room experience after the seven seconds, sheesh, man. Everything was going through my head, but I knew after a couple of minutes that I was gonna be good. I think, seeing these guys every day, especially guys like Jayden (Quaintance), they fight every day, and that’s just our identity.
“We fight. We’re a tough group. And I knew if I was even a little bit good to be able to play, I was gonna give it a go. I told these guys at halftime, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna go out there, and I’m gonna live with it,’” Lowe said.
The Pittsburgh transfer has remarkable resilience to be on the court and lead the Kentucky offense.
“No matter what day it is, every day I step on the court, it’s a risk, but I know what comes with it, and my guys know what comes with it, but at the end of the day, I’m a competitor, and I just want to go out there and play,” Lowe said.
Pope admitted on the UK Radio Network postgame show that it sent “shivers” through the team when Lowe went out so quickly in the first half, resulting in the Cats’ offensive dysfunction.
“It has been a complicated go with him. That is one I did not see moving, the very first possession of the game (for him),” Pope said.
Pope said it reminded him of a scene in “The Karate Kid” in which Daniel LaRusso returned from an injury to win a match.
“He said he wanted to go and try, and he was incredible in the second half,” Pope said. “He can get wherever he wants on the floor. That results in so many different things. Our pace in general was better in the second half. We were stagnant (in the first half). Our guys did a better job in the second half, and he was a major part of that.”
Lowe has been pushing coaches not only to play him but to play him more. Remember he came to UK to be the offensive catalyst and playmaker. Pope said he had been “petitioning only to be a game player” and maybe just shoot free throws and rest in practice.
“We’ll continue to just proceed with caution with him. He’s just so tough, man. You saw the impact that he can have on our team. I mean, you saw one half without J. Lowe, and you saw one half with J. Lowe,” Pope said. “I’m voting for the half with J. Lowe because he just changes everything we do. So we’re gonna proceed with caution. He’s gonna fight through this deal, and he’s gonna be great.”
8 Responses
I posted a month ago that he's fragile and soft. I was wrong. He plays with pain at a high level.
I said the same. I was wrong as well. Most players nowadays would have set out the rest of the year. What I don't understand is how he and butler have the same exact injury? Is it a weightlifting exercise that is causing this to happen? I do know we are a little better with Lowe playing. With JQ playing and Lowe we are a team on another level. I think with Lowe and JQ we can beat anyone. I think we would have beaten Louisville and North Carolina if both Lowe and JQ were healthy. Remember Lowe played after hurting his arm he still played against Louisville. That shows how tough he is.
Gives off strong Joe Mazulla vibes. Still have nightmares about him driving repeatedly (successfully) against Wall, Bledsoe and company in the Elite 8.
The combo of Lowe and JQ were the difference in the second half. Will this combo have success against Bama? We will soon see.
I'm not ready to put him on the Tyler Ulis level, but he might get there.
He's going to get an unbelievable beating in the SEC.
Hopefully coach Pope will give the refs a heads up about what's going to happen before every game.
If he played for Duke nobody would be allowed to touch him.
I thought Lowe was done when he left the game. Barley got touched. You can't convince me that he didn't get a shot in that shoulder. I doubt if he will make it the whole year.
If the Cats are going to be a force in the SEC, it starts with Alabama. They are beatable. The Tide lost by 7 to Purdue, lost by 10 to the Zags, and lost by 21 to Arizona. They beat St. John's by 7. The Cats can't lose game one in the SEC.
I think he got a shot to numb his shoulder. You can't be in that much pain and 15 minutes later be back on the floor. It's sad because if Lowe was fully healthy we and JQ is now ready we would be unstoppable. Even with JQ you wonder how good we will be if Lowe is injured for a long period of time. The kid can play he was all ACC last year. He's not just a role player he's one of the best if not the best guard on the team. I think he's better than Oweh. If he wasn't injured he would probably lead the team in scoring and assist. Has anyone noticed Noah and Jelavic barely get off the bench now? That's because they were playing to prove a point if you don't play hard Noah will play over you basically. Noah is a good player but he's still not ready for major minutes at a big program. He will be ready next year. He's still a step slow on defense and can only make a shot if it's q catch and shoot 3.
Lowe is more fragile than not. I would not be surprised if he gets hurt again against Bellarmine.
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