Jaland Lowe, Jayden Quaintance to start for Kentucky vs Missouri, per report

Mark Pope will start Jaland Lowe and Jayden Quaintance in Kentucky's game against Missouri.

Kentucky Wildcats forward Jayden Quaintance (21) with guard Jaland Lowe (15) in game against St. John's | Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Kentucky basketball fans have seemed to have finally gotten their wish. After receiving a lot of pushback for not making a change to the starting lineup, more specifically not starting Jaland Lowe since returning from injury, Mark Pope is making a change. According to KSR's Jack Pilgrim, both Lowe and Jayden Quaintance will start in Kentucky's game against Missouri. Pilgrim reports the two will replace Collin Chandler and Malachi Moreno as starters against Missouri, which will make the lineup Jaland Lowe, Denzel Aberdeen, Otega Oweh, Mo Dioubate and Jayden Quaintance.

It's a long-time coming for Kentucky fans, as since Jaland Lowe has been back from injury on Dec. 5, he hasn't started a single game. Even in the games before he wasn't included in Kentucky's starting lineup. That's seven games played with zero starts to show for it, with fans constantly wondering why Lowe has continued to come into the games following the first media timeout after Kentucky has already fallen behind. He's not the only one being included in the lineup change, with Quaintance starting as well. Quaintance made his debut against St. John's and has since been working to get acclimated after spending nine months returning from an injury. Now, he's getting the start, too. We haven't seen the two on the floor together since Kentucky's second-half surge to beat St. John's on Dec. 20.

The chatter around the starting lineup questions has mainly centered around Lowe, as he is clearly the engine of this team. When he's not in, Kentucky sturggles to have any flow, or identity for that matter. Now, the Wildcats have the opportunity to start the game off fresh instead of it being like the last game where Kentucky fell behind 9-5 before Lowe came in. Mark Pope hinted on his radio show Monday that this development with Lowe was coming, saying "starting is in his future" while also noting that they're continuing to 'nurse' him along. Before that, though, during Kentucky's 10-day break between the Bellarmine and Alabama games, Pope discussed the reason why Jaland Lowe had not been starting:

"We’re trying to limit his contact and exposure so much in practice that, the thinking behind that is like, let’s protect the integrity of the group that we have getting most of the reps in practice to actually be able to go perform on the court, just to give some continuity." At the time, Pope wasn't sure if that was the right way to go about it, but it's something he said they would continue to be thinking about moving forward. "That might not be the right answer. We’re going to kind of explore that as we go. It also gives you a chance to maybe extend his healthy window, which we’re hoping is going to be the entire season, by not being the headline guy at the beginning of a scout."

Well, those comments from Pope combined with the pushback from fans has now led to Jaland Lowe finally making his first start as a Kentucky Wildcat. Mark Pope now has real chance for his team to build some momentum with two players on the floor together in Lowe and Quaintance who will hopefully be staying on the floor together and consistently moving forward. This development is going to be what Kentucky fans focus on most against Missouri.