Jaland Lowe is practicing again for Kentucky in non-contact capacity

When will Jaland Lowe be back for Kentucky? It sounds like things are trending in the right direction with PG1 back on the practice floor for the Wildcats this week.

Quite the turn from talk of potentially undergoing season-ending surgery just days after the deflating loss at Louisville — back-to-back gut punches for the blue and white, at the time.

Now, maybe just one gut punch?

“Jaland Lowe was on the court today in non-contact skill work,” Pope said in his first call-in show of the year. “He’s making progress, which is really exciting. It’ll continue to be a day-to-day scenario. It was good to see him, not just in the skill work, but also out there coaching — which is going to be a really important part of what he does when he’s playing on the floor and in practice. We’re trying to give him more and more responsibility. He’s doing well.”

After a few non-updates following the injury as Lowe talked through potential options with his family and pushed for additional medical opinions, Pope shared the first sign of optimism on the junior point guard ahead of the team’s matchup vs. Loyola (Md.).

As things stood then, it appeared surgery was not the ultimate choice. Lowe was going to rehab his injured shoulder, and if things went well, they would ‘take another swing’ at it.

“We’re still in consultation, still seeing how rehab goes,” Pope said last week. “So right now, it’s just a matter of like, can he get to a place where he feels some stability and some strength? I wish I had better answers for you right now, but it really is a day-to-day kind of process to see where he ends up. He’s got really good mobility right now.

“And so it’s just a matter of stability and strength and kind of see what we get and take another swing if he can.”

It sounds like things are going exactly as planned.

Lowe originally dislocated his right shoulder during the Blue-White Game on Oct. 17, forcing him to miss both exhibition games, then the regular season opener against Nicholls. He returned against Valparaiso and Louisville, then re-injured that same shoulder on Nov. 13.

He missed the Eastern Illinois win, the Champions Classic loss to Michigan State, and then the Loyola win. How much longer will he be out? Odds are good Lowe will sit out against Tennessee Tech on Wednesday, but with no game from there until Dec. 2 against North Carolina, could that be the target return date? The Wildcats sure could use him.