Jayden Quaintance only played eight minutes against Bellarmine Tuesday. (Vicky Graff Photo)
After finally making his Kentucky debut against St. John’s on Saturday and exciting UK fans with 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots in just 17 minutes, Jayden Quaintance was not nearly as dynamic in Tuesday’s 99-85 win over Bellarmine in Rupp Arena.
Quaintance had four points going 1-for-2 from the field and 2-for-4 at the foul line. He managed only two rebounds and did not block a shot but coach Mark Pope limited him to only eight minutes as a precautionary measure. He played only one minute in the second half.
Quaintance had knee surgery about nine months ago while he was still at Arizona State. He’s considered UK’s most talented player and likely the biggest key to UK’s postseason chances.
After making his Kentucky debut vs. St. John’s, Jayden Quaintance played just eight minutes tonight, finishing with four points and two rebounds. He only played one minute after halftime, which Pope said was due in part to a weird matchup vs. Bellarmine’s frontcourt.
“It’s a big week for him. This is a weird game for him. It’s a weird matchup, weird vibe. Everything about it is weird,” Pope said after the game. “I won’t take anything from this game on him.
“These practices, I can’t tell you how excited we are about them and is going to give us a chance to really be grounded and really work and dig in and forge more identity with him in the lineup, with two bigs in the lineup, with the rotation we were kinda thinking about. So this practice time will be really valuable for us.”
Kentucky does not play again until Jan. 3 when it opens Southeastern Conference play at Alabama.
That break is why Pope was also cautious with junior center Brandon Garrison after he left the game in the first half with a knee injury.
“BG, the little knee issue today. BG, we held him out after his first rotation, just because he had a little soreness in the knee. So just a precaution,” Pope said.
Pope didn’t play point guard Jaland Lowe to give his injured right shoulder time to heal/rest after he re-aggravated it during the first half of the win over St. John’s before returning in the second half to lead UK to the win.
“He had a little bit of soreness and just a little bit of pain,” Pope said. “We just made the calculated decision to when he steps on the floor, I would like him to be at full strength. I think that’s going to be important for us going forward.
“I expect him to play every game, but this was an opportunity for us to maybe let him heal up a little more, especially with a break coming up now for a few days. So, we were able to stack — sometimes, there is a big difference between 48 hours and 96 hours or 120 hours. And so, we are trying to just buy a little extra time for him to heal up fully.”
16 Responses
Lowe appears to be too fragile for SEC play. Johnson is our better long term option at the point with Lowe playing a limited reserve role. JQ and Moreno are more than capable of carrying the load at the 5 spot. When Garrison gets healthy, he could be an insurance piece at either the 4 or 5. Dioubate and Jelavic are solid at the 4. Williams has stepped up to earn a starting role at the 3 with Noah as the backup. I don't know what has happened to Oweh, but he is not the player he was last year. Let him start at the 2, but keep him on a short lease. Aberdeen plays much better at the 2 and could earn the starting role if Owen continues to struggle. Chandler will have to be the backup point guard. Lowe won't make it past 3 more games before he will be injured again.
Otega was 2 rebounds away from a triple double this game. He was named SEC player of the week last week. After missing 10 weeks with his turf toe injury over the summer, it seems to me that he is rounding into form.
He's like a little bull charging to the basket. And 21 can clean up the misses.
I thought the same thing Karen.
I agree. That turf toe set him back. It's a very painful injury especially when you are stopping and going and cutting makes it throb.
I think it will be just like Butler last year. Where he misses 3-4 games then plays in the bigger games. This kills a teams chemistry because you can't get good at doing the same thing every game. I would have sat out both JQ and Lowe against Bellarmine. There was no reason to risk them against a lesser opponent especially with Alabama coming to town next game. The team has a nice break and JQ can continue to take the next step in his development. Lowe I don't know how he's going to play in the SEC. It's by far the most physical conference in college basketball. Did everyone see where the guy from Baylor was drafted in the NBA in the first round in 2023 and now he is playing the second half of the year for Baylor. The NCAA is worthless. Anyways with BG down that gives Jelavic more opportunities to improve. I honestly think Jelavic is better than BG already. He's a freshman and BG is a junior. I would start Johnson at the point regardless. I would have Lowe be the backup and get about 10-12 mins per game. Having different players every game is killing our chemistry. Noah is starting to play spot up minutes. This shouldn't have just happened but I understand why it has. Noah is q good player he just sucks at everything but shooting. He also has a hard time creating his own shot. Chandler's play has gotten worse as the season has gone on as well. Aberdeen plays good against weak teams and sucks against the better teams. I would start Johnson/Oweh/Mo-D/JQ/Moreno with backups Chandler/Aberdeen/Williams/Jelavic/BG with Noah and Lowe being the odd men out. Play only depending on who we are playing and what kind of defense do they play. I dont understand why Noah didn't play more against Bellarmine and less against Gonzaga. I dont understand Popes substitutions at all.
This guy doesn’t know much about basketball huh?
A healthy Lowe is as good as it gets at the collegiate level. If he waits for surgery till years end we won’t see him till about this time of year in 26’.
Owen dish out 10 assist yesterday the most he's done as a cat. Everybody were screaming he's a ball hog I dont see it that way. His assist ratio is up from last year as well.
The rotation should be more established than it is for this time of the year. These injuries have been plugged in for some time now. I can't imagine what the score could have been had the Cats hit their normal % of 3's. Chandler has not earned a starting role. He and Moreno, Noah only had 1 FG each. Bellarmine had 5 guys in double figures and shot over 50%. They played with unbelievable efficiency and it seems that Pope got out coached again.
This team can survive without Garrison
I think Oweh had his best game of the season..on a season low 10 points. 10 points 9assist 9 rebounds. Barely missing a triple double. He could do this every game. Teams are going to collapse on him and I've been saying he needs to work on his passing. Passing the ball scoring on and ones, and playing great defense and rebounding will get him drafted. Not scoring 18-20 points and 10 of the points were at the foul line. NBA teams want scorers sure but they need guys who can get there shooters the ball. That's where Oweh comes in if the defense doesn't double him he can take his man one on one and usually has the advantage because of his strength. If he could average about 3-4 assist per game that is what will take his game to the next level not scoring 18 points with 2 rebounds and 1 assist. If he can even average about 13 ppg 5-6 rpg and 3-4apg with 2 steals per game that is what will get him to the next level. Pope needs to chirp in his ear more get everyone involved. If he does we instantly move up to w championship caliber team. We will not be a championship caliber team with him shooting 15-20 shots per game.
Well, I'm still not comfortable with the willy nilly subbing. Throwing players in a out is not a good game plan in my opinion, but I believe in Pope but I think if you want to do that much subbing let them get some run instead of in and out at least three or four minutes.. How else can you gain consistency and continuity. I digress
I agree we need to get the lineup down to the best 8-9 guys. 10 if your taking it cautious on a couple of guys. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it looks like Noah, Garrison, and Jelavic are the odd men out. Noah is to slow to create and shot for himself so if your not going to set picks to get the shooter open then there is no point in playing him. He kills us on defense and if he's not hitting 3s then he is a weak spot on the court. Garrison is ok when he gives maximum effort, but I seen on the video they had about him you have to go about it different with him. Yelling is going to do the opposite on him that it does most people. He's not the brightest bulb without being a asshole for saying it. He seems very immature for someone his age. Jelavic I would play over Garrison. It's not effort that he struggles with it's the speed of American basketball. European basketball is like American basketball of the 80s or early 90s. Structure is also what you could call it. American basketball has become positionless and pretty much play less. You get guys who are great at one on ones and you attack the weakest link on the defense. We do a bad job of this but everyone else runs it to perfection against us. I would give Jelavic Garrisons minutes and only play him for about 10-12 mins per game. Garrison would play 5-8 mins if he's playing hard he would play a little more if he doesn't he would have a permanent seat at the end of the bench. This team looks like a top 10 team with JQ and Lowe together on the floor. Without them we look were we rank right outside the top 25. We couldn't put a bellarmine team away with 9 Trent Noah's on there team. That's not a good look. It's hard to blend shooters and defense. You usually either get defense or shooting. When you can find both you have something special. The closest two players we have that have these traits are Williams and Chandler. Chandler over the last 3-4 games hasn't played that well. He also hasnt been shooting the ball as much either. We need guys who's are going to facilitate and play defense. Play for the guy standing next to you or don't play at all. Period
Terry, you wouldn't be a former asob commenter would you?
No more injuries, no more excuses. If you get up off the bench and cross that white line that boundaries the playing floor…you aren't injured anymore. It will be a hostile crowd in Tuscaloosa and the refs will be just as hostile. Nobody in the entire state of Alabama gives us a snowball's chance in hell of beating Bama. Let's send a pair of longjjohns to the devil and beat these packaderms!
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