Mark Pope can’t catch a break. The Kentucky Wildcats are struggling since the dawn of the 2025-26 season. Pope’s side currently holds a 10-6 record and has dropped out of the AP Poll, not even receiving votes in Week 10. All this while Jaland Lowe has been in a limbo, but the team has finally decided on his long-term future after the latest setback.

The point guard has been in and out of this team due to persistent shoulder issues. He initially made a return against Louisville but wasn’t ready yet. Lowe then attempted to return nearly a month later with limited time against Gonzaga, but re-aggravated the injury in two straight games against Indiana and St. John’s, and again last weekend against Mississippi State. Despite the repeated setbacks, hope lingered that Lowe could eventually find his footing. However, after a ‘long’ and ’emotional’ meeting with Lowe, his family, and doctors, Mark Pope and Co. have decided for him to get surgery.

“We have pushed the envelope on him in every way,” Pope said on the UK Sports Network. “You think about it, since the blue-white scrimmage, he’s dislocated his shoulder three times. Now, every time it’s been with less and less contact. He’s tweaked it in a game and tweaked it once in practice to add on top of that. And we searched, tried every possible, reasonable scenario to have him continue on, but just made the wise and right decision today that he’ll go have surgery, and so he’ll be out for the season.”

Pope further said that the recovery time will be around 6 months, and there is a possibility of a medical redshirt as well. Jaland Lowe, on the other hand, professed some love for his side after this devastating news. He posted a team photo on his IG stories with only one emoji as a caption: the blue heart.

The Pittsburgh transfer was one of the most exciting talents Pope had bought in. Because of the shoulder injury, he never really got going. He averaged 8 points, 2.4 assists, and 2.1 rebounds while playing 8 games (2 starts), at 18.2 minutes per game. His permanent absence creates a major hole for Pope this season, as he was the only pure point guard in the squad. The coach has now allocated more responsibility to freshman Jasper Johnson.

Mark Pope Looks Towards Jasper Johnson As The Jaland Lowe Replacement

Pope was already juggling a myriad of other injuries while Lowe was dealing with his. Jayden Quaintance, who was coming off a torn ACL, received a setback and was out in their last game after playing 4. Mouhamed Dioubate missed nearly a month with an ankle injury. There is the case of Trent Noah, who did not play in either of Kentucky’s first two SEC games.

He checked into the Mississippi State game with 1:41 left and played just one defensive possession before calling to the bench for a substitution during a dead ball with 1:35 remaining. Pope explained he is being evaluated. While the injuries rage on, none are as important as Lowe. With his continued absence, the team has already struggled to connect, getting only 17.8 assists per game. Their assist rate of 59.45 ranks 40th on Bart torvik. The lack of a consistent creative engine was evident. With Lowe recovering from his shoulder injury, Pope mentioned Jasper Johnson getting more involved after their last game.

“It’s time. It’s time for Jasper to step up and really start making a huge contribution. I thought his force was really good tonight. He made sense of the game when he was in the game,” Pope said after the Mississippi State win. “I thought it was solid defensively with his defensive assignment. So that’s a great step for him. I’m really proud of him.”

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At that point, Lowe wasn’t completely ruled out. Now that he is, that statement becomes even more significant. Johnson had 5 points in 10 minutes while going 2-4 from the field. He is averaging 6.9 points, 2.5 assists, and 1.5 rebounds at 14.9 minutes per game. Whether Kentucky sinks or survives might come down to how far and how fast the freshman can climb.