Kentucky PG Jaland Lowe will have season-ending surgery

Kentucky fans received brutal news on Monday night. After going out with injury for the third time on Saturday against Mississippi State, Mark Pope announced that Kentucky point guard Jaland Lowe will be out for the remainder of the season and will have surgery on his shoulder.

The Kentucky PG tweaked his shoulder numerous times this season even after returning from the injury against Louisville. Lowe then returned nearly a month later with limited time against Gonzaga, before then re-aggravating it in two straight games against Indiana and St. John's, then last weekend against Mississippi State. In a 'long' and 'emotional' meeting with Lowe, his family, and doctors, they have collectively made the decision to have him get surgery, which puts him out for the remainder of the season. Pope talked in-depth about the decision to ultimately go the route to best protect his future:

"We have pushed the envelope on him in every way," Pope said on Lowe. "You think about 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."

Is a redshirt a possibility to preserve another season? Pope says it's a possibility. "Once you set foot on the court for one second during one official game, your red shirt is burned. But there is a medical red shirt avenue, and so that'll be something. Every medical red shirt candidate has to pursue a waiver at the end of the season. He certainly would qualify in every conceivable way. So we expect that's a possibility for him."

Now, with Lowe officially out for the remainder of the season, Pope's comments on Saturday that Jasper Johnson will need to step up moving forward mean a lot now. "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. I thought he made sense of the game when he was in the game. I thought it was solid defensively with his defensive assignment. So that’s a great step for him. I’m really proud of him."

Losing Lowe is a huge blow, and now, a lot will be riding on Jasper Johnson to continue taking a jump.