Kentucky players believe Jaland Lowe will help open the offense: 'Him coming back is everything'

Injuries aren’t the main reason why Kentucky is off to a poor 5-4 start this season, but they certainly aren’t helping.

Luckily, the Wildcats appear to be turning the corner a bit with player health. After not playing since Nov. 11 following a second shoulder injury, starting point guard Jaland Lowe made his return against Gonzaga on Friday. Lowe still came off the bench in that 35-point loss to the Bulldogs, only posting one point and one rebound on 0-5 shooting in 14 minutes.

But Lowe has also only played a total of 62 minutes across three games played this season. Being in and out of the lineup while rehabbing two injuries is understandably making his life difficult on the hardwood. If Kentucky wants to have any hope of getting this season on track, one of the keys will be a fully healthy Lowe.

“He creates a lot for my game,” Denzel Aberdeen said Monday when asked how Lowe helps him on the floor. “He always finds me in the right spots, and not just me, but all my teammates, to be honest. He spreads out the floor on defense, he splits screens. He’s so fast. Pushes out in transition. I’m just glad to have him back and we’re gonna start to see the changes with him on the court, especially.”

Lowe isn’t going to magically fix Kentucky’s problems. He’ll still need time to get acclimated to playing in real games with his teammates. But Lowe sliding back into the PG1 role can alleviate some of the on-ball duties that his teammates aren’t accustomed to, but have been forced into so far this season. If anything, it just gives Kentucky a different look offensively — something this group could desperately need, especially after shooting a combined 8-47 from deep with just 20 assists to 17 turnovers in losses to North Carolina and Gonzaga.

“Once he spreads our offense open, everything is gonna be good,” Aberdeen said.

That’s easy to say, but will it translate? That was the idea when Kentucky recruited Lowe to Lexington. He was expected to be the table-setter who pushed the pace and generated easy offense. Due to his injury, we haven’t been able to truly see if that ends up being the case.

“He’s someone who’s very capable of scoring,” Freshman guard Jasper Johnson added. “But he will always make the right decision.”

And maybe Lowe’s return won’t matter much in the big picture. Maybe Kentucky’s issues go so far beyond having a capable point guard, that Lowe’s impact won’t swing the season. But the Wildcats can’t look much worse against competent competition than they have so far. The likes of Aberdeen, Collin Chandler, and other guards have been playing in unfamiliar situations during Lowe’s absence — he, in theory, at least helps with that.

“That kid’s a fighter,” Aberdeen said of Lowe. “Obviously got injured twice and still coming back, doing what he can for his team. That’s an amazing kid, an amazing leader. We just got to come behind him and protect him from this point out. Him coming back is everything.”

Subscribe to the KSR YouTube Channel for press conferences, interviews, original shows, fan features, and exclusive content.