{"id":357676,"date":"2025-10-22T04:03:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T04:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/357676\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T04:03:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T04:03:19","slug":"evaluating-kentuckys-point-guard-options-until-jaland-lowe-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/357676\/","title":{"rendered":"Evaluating Kentucky’s point guard options until Jaland Lowe returns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mark Pope<\/a>, ironically, compared Jaland Lowe<\/a>\u2018s situation at Kentucky to that of Lamont Butler <\/a>a year ago, coming from San Diego State as a defense-first guard just a tweak or two away from taking his game to another level. The efficiency was abysmal, never shooting above 42.1 percent overall or 34.2 percent from three in four seasons with the Aztecs while coming off a year where he shot 59.4 percent at the line. <\/p>\n

Then he averaged career-highs in points (11.4), assists (4.3), rebounds (2.9), field-goal percentage (49.8 percent) and three-point percentage (39.1 percent) \u2014 by far the best year of his career. <\/p>\n

The hope and expectation is that Lowe, who shot just 37.6 percent overall and 26.6 percent from three while averaging 3.0 turnovers per contest, has a similar breakthrough in Pope\u2019s offense and surrounded by Kentucky talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to see a very similar transition from Lamont Butler,\u201d Pope said of Lowe at UK Media Day. \u201cHe made huge strides, like almost inconceivable strides last year based on a little bit different but a similar trajectory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Little did we know, the overlaps would pop up in more ways than hoped almost right away. Butler, as fans remember all too well, was limited to 27 outings as a Wildcat due to ankle and shoulder injuries \u2014 and banged up a significant chunk of the games he did play. He was tough as nails, but couldn\u2019t escape the bug. Now, Lowe is in the same boat, going down with a shoulder injury in the Blue-White Game before suiting up in a regulation contest, his status now temporarily up in the air. Pope said \u201che has improved so much in the last 48 hours, it\u2019s really, really positive\u201d<\/a> on Monday while adding \u201cwe\u2019ll kind of proceed with caution\u201d in terms of a return \u2014 but is in \u201creally good shape\u201d overall. <\/p>\n

Does that mean punting on the preseason to get ready for the opener vs. Nicholls State on November 4? Waiting until Louisville on Nov. 11? Earlier? Later? No matter how much time he misses, games have to be played and a replacement at PG1 must be found. Who will it be? KSR takes a look at the potential options against the Boilermakers at Rupp Arena on Friday and potentially beyond.<\/p>\n

The layup is the guy likely to start next to Lowe early in the season anyway, the sixth man on Florida\u2019s national championship team who came to Kentucky in part looking for an expanded role. Aberdeen\u2019s got experience playing on-ball \u2014 he arrived in Gainesville as a point guard \u2014 and stepped up to the challenge when his number was called as a starter, averaging 14.4 points while shooting 41.4 percent from three in five starts for the Gators. That stretch included outings of 22 points against South Carolina and 20 against Mississippi State.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think DA is very comfortable playing the one,\u201d Pope said this summer.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s a winner at the highest level and has a championship ring to prove it. Aberdeen wakes up wanting to guard 94 feet and gets downhill with the best of them. Facilitiating may take a hit with just 80 career assists in 83 games played and we\u2019d need better than his 1.4\/1.0 assist-to-turnover ratio from last season, but he\u2019s comfortable running the show.<\/p>\n

Could Kentucky\u2019s blue-chip freshman be the next man up? Johnson has been getting extended run at point guard in recent weeks at practice and showed some of that off in the Blue-White Game, finishing with a team-high 10 points on 4-7 shooting and 2-3 from three while adding two rebounds and a steal. He\u2019s mostly known for scoring in bunches as a catch-and-shoot guy and transition threat, but if you need him to play more on-ball with Lowe out, the Lexington native is ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very comfortable,\u201d Johnson said. <\/a>\u201cI know he may go down, but we are a team. I know everybody\u2019s willing to step up to that role. I know he\u2019s a big part of our team right now, playing the one, being the head of our snake. \u2026 I know me \u2014 as well as the rest of my teammates \u2014 are all ready to step up and do whatever we need to do to get wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

His coach believes in him, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cJasper Johnson, can\u2019t tell you how proud I am of him,\u201d Pope said at UK Media Day.<\/a> \u201cThe intensity with which he\u2019s trying to grow in places that might not have been his strengths, he is digging in on the defensive side and trying so hard to buy into what we\u2019re telling him this game is going to demand of him this season. He\u2019s doing an unbelievable job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Johnson, Chandler said recently he\u2019s been playing spot minutes at point guard during practice. We got to see some of that during his freshman season with his confidence peaking entering postseason action a year ago. He was overwhelmed at times with some costly turnovers as he found his footing early, but finished as one of the team\u2019s more reliable options with the Wildcats desperate for help in the backcourt.<\/p>\n

Pope said that was a top priority for Chandler this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s made an incredible jump,\u201d\u00a0Pope said of the former top-40 recruit.<\/a> \u201cYou know, one of the things that he was focused on this summer was his ball handling, his ability to get wherever he wanted to get and not have handling the ball slow him down from getting there. And he worked incredibly hard at it this entire summer. He\u2019s made massive progress, like, it\u2019s really stunning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Remember Kentucky\u2019s get-Otega-the-ball-and-get-out-of-the-way offense at times last season? It led to a couple game-winners and plenty other ridiculous buckets on Oweh\u2019s way to All-SEC honors, and now, expectations are even higher in his final season of college basketball as the SEC Preseason Player of the Year.<\/p>\n

Pope said this summer he doesn\u2019t expect the Wildcats to ever find themselves in a situation as tough as the one they were in late last year with Jaxson Robinson and Kerr Kriisa both out for the year and Butler hobbled. He built this roster to combat that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a little bit of a different scenario than we felt like we were in most of the season last year. We have so many capable options,\u201d he said.<\/a><\/p>\n

The first name out of Pope\u2019s mouth when running through those options?<\/p>\n

\u201cOtega\u2019s played some minutes at the one,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Interesting, right? <\/p>\n

Mark Pope\u2019s top choice? Anyone but Andrija Jelavic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When asked about Lowe\u2019s temporary replacement, Pope named essentially everyone on the roster as a capable option for the Wildcats \u2014 everyone but Jelavic, who has a no-dribble rule in Lexington.<\/p>\n

He first brought up Aberdeen as the top option, then listed Johnson, Chandler and Oweh before getting carried away with the rest of the guys.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually have a really fun group of guards,\u201d Pope said Monday at the Kentucky Tip-off Luncheon in Louisville. \u201cDenzel Aberdeen has been unbelievable for us at the point guard spot in the first three-and-a-half weeks of training camp. He\u2019s been incredible. He\u2019s a veteran, veteran player \u2014 and it\u2019s not often you have a player on your team that was there as the horn sounded in a national championship win. He\u2019s done it all, seen it all. He\u2019s an incredible combo guard, probably more comfortable at the point than the two, so he\u2019ll continue to be great there. <\/p>\n

\u201cJasper Johnson has shown amazing acuity at the point. He\u2019s growing so fast \u2014 it is hard for rookies. He\u2019s always been a dangerous, dangerous, dangerous scorer, but he\u2019s got this slippery vibe to him that you guys are going to love watching so much. He doesn\u2019t have a huge physicality to his game, but he\u2019s just so slippery. <\/p>\n

\u201cCollin Chandler is going to be a formidable force and Otega is convinced that he is the answer for us at the point \u2014 as well as all of our bigs. Malachi Moreno watched Amari (Williams) last year and says, \u2018That\u2019s what I should be doing!\u2019 BG (Brandon Garrison) wants to step in those shoes. Andrija (Jelavic) knows he\u2019s not allowed to dribble, he\u2019s only allowed to shoot. He\u2019s probably the only guy not vying for the point guard position as a backup right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, it doesn\u2019t sound like Kentucky will have to deal with this question for too long as Lowe makes his way back from the shoulder injury sooner rather than later. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s nice to have plenty of options, though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark Pope, ironically, compared Jaland Lowe\u2018s situation at Kentucky to that of Lamont Butler a year ago, coming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,14351,14352,1466,4452,2339],"class_list":{"0":"post-357676","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-collin-chandler-22-farmington","10":"tag-denzel-aberdeen-22-dr-phillips","11":"tag-jaland-lowe-23-fort-bend-marshall","12":"tag-jasper-johnson-25-overtime-elite","13":"tag-otega-oweh-22-blair-academy"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115415836870462058","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}