Jayden Quaintance (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky coach Mark Pope admits it is a delicate balance trying to decide what is best for injured players.
“You want to protect their future, but you don’t want to steal their present from them,” Pope said after Saturday’s win over Mississippi State when Jaland Lowe dislocated his shoulder again and Jayden Quaintance did not play because of swelling in his knee.
Pope announced Monday that Lowe, a Pittsburgh transfer, will have season-ending surgery after playing in only nine games.
Quaintance, a 7-foot big, has played in only four games coming off a knee injury suffered last year when he was playing for Arizona State before transferring to UK. He has averaged 5.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 0.8 blocks and 16.5 minutes per game but did not play in Saturday’s win over Mississippi State and Pope did not sound optimistic about him playing at LSU Wednesday night.
“He has progressed. He has made progress, feeling better,” Pope said Monday about Quaintance. “We did some more testing, so that’s an ongoing thing, too, that we’re going to probably figure out more about in the next couple of days as we kind of do consults.”
Quaintance is out with swelling in his knee — which is not an unusual development when a player comes back after major knee surgery.
Pope has had to constantly juggle his lineup this year with Lowe and Quaintance not being available full-time. It’s sort of like the way he had to deal with constant injuries on last year’s team but UK still got to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. This UK team would be on the NCAA bubble at best today.
“It’s not a unique challenge in the sense of every team is facing it, but it is a challenge trying to establish an identity, mostly because those two pieces are very unique to our team,” Pope said. “Jaland Lowe brings something to our team that nobody else brings to our team, and JQ brings something to our team that nobody else brings.
“They’re both important parts of it, so it’s not like we just move on to the next guy in the same way. We have to retool a lot of things as we move on to the next guy. That part’s been a little bit of a challenge, but it’s the same challenge that everybody faces every single season.”
Because he had to also deal with injuries last season, Pope said it may have been easier on his stress level this time.
“I’m just like, this is par for the course. This is what we do. There’s no purpose in us stressing or bemoaning or worrying about the fact that we’re having roster changes because of health. It’s just part of the game, so I probably take it a little bit more in stride,” the UK coach said. “But it’s still all the complications that you’d expect that every single team’s facing.”
6 Responses
Let JQ heal up. We looked pretty good in the second half. Let's go to war with that bunch + Noah.
It would be nice to see Jelavic get more PT and take better advantage when he does. He has been here long enough to get adjusted to American vs European ball. It is IMO that he has been mismanaged by Pope. He has all the physical tools to be able to make more of a contribution. If we can pass and play close to what we did the last game and find a way to get Chandler out of his Funk we should be better positioned to have improved 2nd half of season.
I agree Jelavic needs more playing time. It's the only way he's going to figure it out. We play better with him in the game compared to Mo-D because Jelavic will pass the ball to the open man. Mo-D will shoot it every time he gets the chance too. When we play team ball we look like a decent team. When we play Hero ball it's over. We don't have the scorers to play hero ball. We have to work together as a team and everything will come together. The only problem I have with Lowe is now Aberdeen will take majority of the minutes playing the point. Jasper Johnson needs to play most of the minutes because unlike Aberdeen Johnson will have 3 years left after this year. Aberdeen and Johnson are pretty much neck and neck at the point but if this is true wouldnt you give the freshman the nod over the senior who's not much better? You have to play to win now but Johnson will be much better than what Aberdeen is this year next year if you play him. Noah needs to listen to me and fake a injury and get a medical redshirt for this year. Lowe will be a redshirt junior next year with 2 years of eligibility so he still has a ton of basketball to play. Hopefully this injury doesn't define his basketball career because he can be really good. I imagine its pretty scary if your shoulder is popping out of place for just minor contact. I said a couple of weeks ago they should go ahead and have the surgery. He shouldn't play with a limited arm. If Oweh stays hot and someone like Chandler gets rolling again we will be in good hands. We need someone else to step up in a major way and so far it's been Moreno and Oweh. Williams has also elevated his game to the next level. I think Williams Johnson and Chandler will be a 3 headed monster next year. With Moreno and Jelavic showing the most upside in the post. You have to play the players that are going to be here next year. This is the year they need to learn so next year they are ready. Let me tell everyone something that most people don't know. Potter if not redshirting would play this year over Garrison. Hawthorne will also surprise some people next year. The one thing i don't understand is both can shoot the ball and that's a area we are hurting in. I would keep the redshirt on Potter so he has two good years. I dont however understand the redshirt on Hawthorne. He can help us win now.
JQ is such a terrible shooter that he couldn’t hit a balloon with a shotgun from 5 ft away.
Back in the day when people had common sense, a player like him would return for another year and improve his craft.
i agree let jq rest up, but this team needs to start the games pressing and this could set the tempo for the whole game. pope always waits till we get down by 15 or 20 points before he presses. a little zone wouldn’t be a bad option either, at least for more than 30 seconds.