Three-Point Shooting and Defense: What Advanced Stats Say About the 2025-26 Kentucky Basketball Team

In his first full offseason as the Kentucky head basketball coach, Mark Pope provided a masterclass in roster-building for Big Blue Nation.

On3 ranks the Kentucky transfer portal class as the second-best in the nation. 247 Sports has the Cats at No. 5. EvanMiya.com ranks Kentucky only behind Michigan.

It’s one thing to sign talented players. The multi-million dollar question is how do they fit together? Evan Miyakawa explained why he’s so bullish on Mark Pope’s second UK roster during Tuesday’s Kentucky Roll Call.

Jaland Lowe has a Versatile Skillset

The point guard is the straw that stirs the team’s drink. Jaland Lowe was forced to do a little bit of everything last year at Pitt and it should serve him well in Lexington.

“He’s a very capable scorer. He’s one of the best volume scorers in the country, in terms of being able to score from really anywhere on the court. He’s really, really good from the free throw line, which is an attribute that I think is going to be extremely valuable for Kentucky,” said Miyakawa.

“But it’s not just the scoring, he’s even more of a better playmaker than he is as a scorer. When you’re looking at this roster with Kentucky players, there are so many capable scorers and athletes on this team. I think Lowe is going to be a really, really big facilitator for this team.”

Not only does he create opportunities for others, Lowe had the ball in his hands a ton and took good care of the ball, a promising sign for the future.

Why Three-Point Shooting Should Not Be A Concern for Kentucky Fans

When taking a quick look at his stats, the first red flag for Jaland Lowe was his 26.6% three-point shooting percentage. Mark Pope wants his players to shoot a ton of threes. How will that work if his primary ball-handler struggles to knock down long-range shots?

“One of the things I do on my site is I predict how good every single player is going to be at all of these different skill areas going forward after adjusting for all of these factors, and I predict that he’s going to be more in the 33-34% range from three next year. If you’re talking about an 8% jump in three-point shooting, along with all of these other qualities that he has, he’s going to be more than serviceable at the point guard position. I think he’s going to be a big reason why Kentucky is successful this year.”

Why should we believe that Lowe will improve from three-point range? Look at a couple of players from last year’s team. Ansley Almonor shot a career-best 42.4% from three, three percentage points better than the year prior, when he led his conference in three-point shooting. Lamont Butler had an even more dramatic leap. The point guard improved his three-point shooting by nine percent to 39.1% in his only season at Kentucky.

“I don’t think necessarily that three-point shooting is going to be one of the team’s strengths next year, but I’m not super concerned that it’s going to be a major weakness,” says Miyakawa. “But it’s probably going to be middle of the road compared to some of the other teams in the SEC. The thing that really sticks out to me about this team is the athleticism, and honestly, the defensive qualities of this team.”

Jayden Quaintance is Poised to Dominate on Defense

It’s clear that Pope attempted to remedy some of the shortcomings from last year’s roster by making upgrades in the transfer portal, specifically when it comes to athleticism and defense. There were a few games last year where the Cats simply got bullied, particularly in the interior and on the glass. Jayden Quaintance can solve a lot of those problems.

Miyakawa ranks Quaintance as the No. 1 defensive player from last year’s transfer portal class. Even though there are questions about his return from an ACL injury, his potential is sky-high in Lexington.

“When you look at what he did defensively last year, he’s an incredible defensive specimen who showed a lot of really good qualities as a freshman,” says Miyakawa.

“He obviously got injured. He’s working his way back. But when you take into account how good he was as a freshman, his incredible recruiting profile coming out of high school — which points to his high potential, and that’s baked into his transfer rating on my site — I think he could be one of the most disruptive defenders in the entire country next year, potentially an All-American when it comes to defense next year. I’m really excited for what he’s going to do on the defensive end.”

It’s not all riding on Quaintance either. One of those teams that dominated Kentucky inside was Alabama. The Cats pulled one of those players, Mo Dioubate, from the transfer portal to provide elite athleticism in the interior.

Mark Pope created an incredible roster for the 2025-26 season. It will look different in all of the right ways.