Injury updates on Kentucky's Otega Oweh, Jayden Quaintance
By Jeff Goodman and Sam Lance
The Field of 68 traveled to Lexington, Kentucky on Tuesday for the last stop of its college practice tour. Jeff Goodman and Rob Dauster were able to catch up with Mark Pope and the players to discuss everything Kentucky basketball heading into the season, and some of the most notable updates came on the injury front. Specifically, they landed an update on Jayden Quaintance’s injury status.
Let’s start with Kentucky’s returning senior leader and likely preseason SEC Player of the Year, Otega Oweh, who has been sidelined with turf toe.
“I’ve been out for four weeks, so now I’m like two weeks from me getting back onto the court,” Oweh said.
If Kentucky had a big game today, Oweh would “100 percent” be out on the court. His absence is precautionary, and the guard will be full-go soon.
“They’re still trying to stop me from the little stuff I’m doing now,” Oweh said.
Moving onto Jayden Quaintance‘s injury update, the forward transferred to Kentucky this offseason from Arizona State, where he suffered an ACL tear in his right knee in February. He had surgery in March and is anticipated to be back at some point during the college basketball season.
During Kentucky’s live practice, The Field of 68 spotted Quaintance shooting free throws in his jersey, but he wasn’t practicing 5v5.
“He’s like in the five and a half month stage right now,” Mark Pope said. “I do know that we are going to proceed with the utmost caution. He’s actually passing benchmarks faster than we humanly thought he possibly could. With that said, we’re still going to be smart because he’s got an incredible future in this game. And he’s so physical and strong and explosive that he could probably trick us.”
Pope continued: “So we’re going to be really cautious. We have a whole map laid out. We’re going to see how it goes. I’d love to see him on the court and full speed tomorrow. It’s probably not going to happen.”
Last season at Arizona State, Quanitance averaged 9.4 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.6 blocks across 24 games before going down with his injury. When he’s back, the former five-star prospect is expected to have a big role in Kentucky’s front court.
For more on Kentucky heading into the 2025-26 season, be sure to check out Tuesday’s live show.
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