Mark Pope says Jaland Lowe's status remains uncertain after reinjury

The jury is still out on what Jaland Lowe‘s status is moving forward. After Kentucky’s 99-53 win over Eastern Illinois, Pope was asked about Lowe, who reinjured his right shoulder at the end of Thursday’s practice. He didn’t have a concrete update, telling reporters that Lowe, his family, his doctors, and the coaching staff are weighing a variety of options about the best path forward.

“We don’t have anything yet, so we’ll probably have some discussions over the next couple of days about what’s the best thing to do right now. That’s probably the point where we are right now. I think we’ve got a bevy of second and third opinions, and so right now it’s going to be more just like the whole group, the whole medical team, and mom and dad and J. Lowe, and me sitting down and having a real conversation about what’s the best thing to do move forward.”

Sources told KSR that Lowe went down at the end of Thursday’s practice while boxing out Mo Dioubate for a rebound. An X-ray and MRI this morning showed no further damage to the shoulder. Denzel Aberdeen handled point guard duties during the win over Eastern Illinois, with Jasper Johnson as the backup. When asked, Pope said that he would not seek external help at the point guard position if Lowe is out for an extended period of time, content with the ball handlers he has on his squad.

“I’m really confident in the group we have. I like the group we have a lot. I think we just have so much growing to do, so I love this group.”

Lowe initially suffered the injury during the Blue-White Game on Oct. 17. He missed both exhibitions vs. No. 1 Purdue and Georgetown, then the regular season opener vs. Nicholls. He made his debut one week ago in Kentucky’s win over Valparaiso, totaling six points, five rebounds, two rebounds, and a steal in 18 minutes in the 107-59 win. On Tuesday vs. Louisville, he came off the bench to put up nine points, five assists, one rebound, one block, and one steal in 30 minutes.

Lowe’s setback came just hours after Pope told reporters that Lowe’s recovery from the initial injury was going well.

“He’s got a lot of soreness, I think, in his whole body, but I think he’s fine,” Pope said early Thursday afternoon. “I think he’s in good shape.”

Lowe only missed one game during his two seasons at Pitt, and that was due to a concussion. As a sophomore with the Panthers, he averaged 16.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.8 steals per game. Lowe was voted Third Team Preseason All-SEC, one of only two Kentucky players to earn honors (the other was Otega Oweh, who was voted SEC Preseason Player of the Year).

This is just the latest backcourt injury during the Mark Pope era. Denzel Aberdeen also missed the Georgetown exhibition with a groin issue. Last season, Lamont Butler missed nine games with a similar shoulder injury to Lowe’s, Jaxson Robinson missed 12 games with various injuries, and Kerr Kriisa only played nine games before breaking his foot. Hopefully, some good karma is headed our way after this brutal stretch.