Mo Dioubate 'would love' to see Jaland Lowe and Jayden Quaintance join him in the starting lineup

Good things happen when Jaland Lowe is on the floor — we know this, and unfortunately, it hasn’t been too often this season. He’s gone for double figures in each of his last three games with 15-plus minutes in all of them, the best coming most recently in the loss at Alabama. In fact, he’s one of very few bright spots from that performance in Tuscaloosa, finishing with 21 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals in 27 minutes.

But, again, it came off the bench, the only space he’s known through seven games as a Wildcat. Fans aren’t happy about it, begging Mark Pope to throw him into the starting lineup in hopes of quicker production from the opening tip after regularly falling behind.

After sharing a generic update on potential changes with the first five coming off the 89-74 loss — “Yes, for sure, we’re considering that all the time” — we got a deeper answer during his weekly radio show on Monday, specifically when it comes to Lowe. The good news? It looks like BBN will get its wish sooner rather than later.

“We’re trying to nurse J-Lowe through this as smartly as we can. I do think that starting is in his future,” Pope said. “He’s getting stronger and stronger and stronger. He’s actually making huge progress. … Starting is in his future, he’s got a huge impact on our team.”

Lowe minimized the importance of starting and said he tries to bring the same approach every game, whether he’s in the first five or not coming in until the five-minute mark.

“That’s something I’ve come to try and realize this year is just to try and keep the mindset the entire time,” he said. “No matter if I start, come off the bench, I feel like if you have the same mindset no matter what, you’re going to get better. … I don’t talk with them (about starting). That’s their own decision.”

He did, however, stress that Kentucky has to play better to start games and the early deficits need to become early leads for the Wildcats to turn things around in the SEC and going into postseason play. That continues Wednesday when UK hosts Mizzou inside Rupp Arena — all eyes on getting ahead early and staying there.

“I feel like that’s very important,” he added. “We’ve started off slow in a lot of our games, so setting that tone early at a home game, especially versus Missouri coming off a win versus Florida is very important. That’s just something that we’ve got to find. That’s important right now, but we’ve also got to sustain that for the full rest of the game.”

It’s not just about Lowe, though, because the Wildcats are also working in a future lottery pick in Jayden Quaintance down low, someone who helped take over the game in the second half against St. John’s and lead Kentucky to its first ranked victory of the season. Whether he starts against Missouri, Mississippi State or further down the road, he’s going to be eventually as he finds his footing with real consistency.

Having those two by Mo Dioubate‘s side has the Alabama transfer feeling quite optimistic going into the bulk of conference play.

And while it’s not the end of the world starting vs. coming off the bench — he’s done both over the course of his career — there is value in having your best five players on the floor together.

Dioubate feels he’s one of those five while Lowe and Quaintance are, too. It’s in the team’s best interest for them all to earn game reps at the same time, whenever that may be.

“I think players — as long as they’re on the court when they feel like they need to be, when the game is on the line,” Dioubate said of the importance of starting. “If they’re able to play enough to where they can impact the game, they wouldn’t care as much. 

“But a guy like Jaland — he’s our best point guard. I’d love to see him on the court with me. JQ, he’s still finding himself a little bit. He’s been out for nine months. He’s still finding his confidence a little bit. He’s still finding his way through the offense. I think he’s figuring it out. I think he’s going to figure it out.

“I feel like if we allow those guys to play a little more, it’s going to build the momentum of the team. It’s going to look like what people have been imagining.”

That certainly looked to be the case in the second half against St. John’s. Will we see more of it soon?