{"id":328044,"date":"2025-10-24T02:46:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T02:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/328044\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T02:46:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T02:46:18","slug":"jaland-lowes-injury-presents-incredible-opportunity-for-other-kentucky-guards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/328044\/","title":{"rendered":"Jaland Lowe’s injury presents ‘incredible opportunity’ for other Kentucky guards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Pope<\/a><\/strong> would obviously prefer to have his starting point guard healthy and ready to suit up against Braden Smith and top-ranked Purdue on Friday, but Jaland Lowe<\/a><\/strong>\u2018s shoulder injury (which shouldn\u2019t keep him sidelined for too much longer<\/a>) will offer at least one interesting wrinkle: figuring out who can step in and fill Lowe\u2019s shoes \u2014 and how it would look \u2014 as the backup floor general. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives everyone an opportunity,\u201d Pope said Thursday about replacing Lowe at point guard, \u201cAnd so it gives a chance to rethink the way we do things. It\u2019s actually interesting, we\u2019ve tailored some things to Jaland specifically. It just is how this goes, right? <\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes when you get too specific in how you manage the game and get really, really creative, it leaves you vulnerable to change. When you stay really general, it\u2019s easier to move through those changes. That\u2019s the dynamic we\u2019re going through right now. But it\u2019s an unbelievable opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowe was brought in from Pitt to run the show in Lexington. As a playmaking guard who can also hit a variety of shots, a chunk of the offense was expected to revolve around him. That will still be the case once he does make his return, but in the meantime, his teammates will have a chance to test those waters themselves and see what they can offer. <\/p>\n

While there is no \u201ctrue\u201d backup point guard to take over for Lowe, Pope\u2019s roster construction in the offseason allowed for some wiggle room at that position in the event something like this does happen. There are a few options, too. Denzel Aberdeen<\/a><\/strong> experimented at point guard during a short stretch at Florida last season, Collin Chandler<\/a><\/strong> has been filling in at point guard throughout summer practices, and Jasper Johnson<\/a><\/strong> has the handles and scoring punch to make an impact. <\/p>\n

Lowe remains the preferred option, but it doesn\u2019t hurt Pope to let others get some run in exhibitions and see what he has there. Don\u2019t be shocked if all three of Aberdeen, Chandler, and Johnson rotate the point guard spot during the preseason games against Purdue and Georgetown. <\/p>\n

\u201cDA is proven, proven, proven,\u201d Pope said. \u201cJasper is so excited to step in here and take his first shot at this thing. Collin Chandler has been through this with a year for us and has been playing elite-level basketball. All those guys are gonna have incredible opportunity with J-Lowe and without him.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see how they handle that opportunity during Friday\u2019s exhibition at Rupp Arena. Tipoff is set for 6:00 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark Pope would obviously prefer to have his starting point guard healthy and ready to suit up against…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":328045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1339,1317,1337,1338,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-328044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-basketball","11":"tag-ncaabasketball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115426858717848337","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}