KSR's top takeaways from Kentucky MBB's Blue-White Game

The air let out of Historic Memorial Coliseum like a balloon flapping in the breeze, Jaland Lowe getting tangled up with Otega Oweh to open the Elam Ending period and going down to the floor in excruciating pain, immediately grabbing his right shoulder. He told the training staff it “popped out” before they popped it back in and got him up on his feet where he gingerly walked back to the locker room, missing the rest of the abbreviated event.

That’s the takeaway, the only thing Big Blue Nation cares about right now. Fans won’t feel better until they know with confidence Lowe isn’t seriously injured and his return is days or weeks away, not months — or worse. Mark Pope said the junior guard “tweaked his shoulder” and he “sat him down out of precaution” with the staff set to “know more tomorrow” after undergoing imaging.

“He’s an incredibly tough young man, so I’m sure whatever it is, he’ll battle through it well.”

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way and understand we won’t know for sure one way or another until Saturday, why not talk through everything else we saw in Kentucky‘s annual Blue-White Game?

Jaland Lowe was the best player on the floor before injury

Let’s hope Lowe’s injury doesn’t keep him off the floor too long, because from what we saw, he’s in clear and total control of the offense and a guy you can trust to lead you to a Final Four at point guard. He finished with nine points on 3-6 shooting with two rebounds and one assist in 12:02 of game action, earning tough buckets and taking what the defense gave him at an extremely high level. Gotta cut down on the turnovers — one was a telgraphed cross-court pass, intercepted by Denzel Aberdeen and returned for a score — but the good outweighed the bad and left you feeling Pope found his guy.

Jasper Johnson is comfortable in a lead guard role

If Lowe has to miss any amount of time, somebody will have to step in as the lead guard. Denzel Aberdeen and Collin Chandler have been seen as the obvious picks to take over, but don’t discount Jasper Johnson as the guy — he looked pretty darn good doing it for the Blue team in a 35-26 victory, one that saw him finish with a team-high 10 points on 4-7 shooting and 2-3 from three while adding two rebounds and a steal.

Again, the youth showed at times with Johnson also leading the game in turnovers with three, but to say he looked capable would be an understatement. Lexington’s own was very good in his unofficial Kentucky debut, and we might have to see his role expand out of necessity depending on Lowe’s injury.

Otega Oweh knocks the rust off on a pitch count

Pope announced before the game the SEC Preseason Player of the Year would not play more than three minutes at a time in his first live game back after missing a couple of months with a turf toe injury. Even with the guardrails up for Otega Oweh, he still played 17 minutes — sixth-most on the team — while finishing with three points, two rebounds, two assists and one steal.

His shot was off at 1-6 overall and he was a little ambitious defensively, racking up a game-high four fouls, but the energy was there for a guy still finding his footing.

“It’s going to be really fun to get him back as he works his way back into this,” Pope said afterward. “I think in the next two or three weeks, he’s going to be back full-speed, full-time — and that’s important. Clearly, he’s a really important part of our team.”

Trent Noah has the ultimate green light

Kentucky may have lost Koby Brea this offseason, but it gained a sharpshooter in somebody the Wildcats already had on the roster. The Mountain Mamba finished with six points on 2-4 from three while adding three assists, two rebounds and zero turnovers to close as a plus-10 in the plus/minus, best on the team.

Beyond the counting stats, Trent Noah’s confidence was glaring, firing away on essentially every touch (or setting up a teammate when the look wasn’t there). The kid just plays winning basketball and is going to force Pope to play him this season.

It doesn’t sound like his coach will have any objections there.

“He’s clearly just a dangerous, dangerous, dangerous, dangerous shooter,” he said. “He just brings this calm to our team. I think he’s going to bail us out of situations like Koby did last year a little bit. It’s been incredible to watch him grow. It’s pretty fun.”

SEC transfers perform as expected

When you bring in one player with Final Four and Elite Eight experience in the SEC and another coming off a national championship in the SEC, odds are good they know how to play, right? Mo Dioubate and Denzel Aberdeen may not be superstars for Kentucky this season, but they are two players who have perfected their roles and raise your floor against elite competition.

Dioubate tried taking the game over in the Elam Ending period and went on a big-time scoring run of his own to make things interesting, finishing with eight points on 3-5 shooting to go with three rebounds. As for Aberdeen, his shot wasn’t falling at 1-5 overall, but he still had one of the best all-around games of the night, adding four points, three assists, two steals and a rebound while drawing three fouls.

Playing to win? “That’s what we do,” Dioubate said.

The bank is open for Andrija Jelavic

What a debut it was for the 6’11” sophomore from Croatia, Andrija Jelavic finishing with eight points — second-most for the Blue — on an efficient 3-5 clip and 2-4 from three with four rebounds and a blocked shot. He splashed one contested three, then sank a Whitaker Bank Shot to prove the bank is, in fact, open inside HMC.

Jelavic looked comfortable letting ’em fly, but don’t let today’s confidence fool you. It hasn’t always been this easy for the international newcomer.

“It’s been really hard, actually,” Pope said of Jelavic’s willingness to launch threes. “He’s had several trips to the top of the stadium and several lectures, but he’s making great progress. He was not shy tonight at all.”

Moreno vs. Garrison was worth the hype

Pope described practices with Malachi Moreno and Brandon Garrison like a “fistfight every day” and “they’re both getting better because of it.” The first public showing of that fistfight was worth the hype with the pair of frontcourt talents trading haymakers all night on both ends of the floor.

The winner? Moreno, who went for four points on 2-3 shooting while adding a game-high nine rebounds in just under 19 minutes with no turnovers or fouls. He missed two free throws and got his shot blocked once, but overall, it was a very, very impressive debut for the freshman.

As for Garrison, he was a bit more well-rounded with four points on 2-5 shooting with four rebounds, three steals, one assist and one block, but added two turnovers. There were a few real whoa moments to match a couple of headscratchers, but that’s no different than anything we saw in year one as a Wildcat.

Having both on this team is a massive win, especially while we wait for Jayden Quaintance to return to game action. They both get after it.