Mark Pope says Jasper Johnson will have to 'step up' moving forward

The Kentucky Wildcats were faced with yet another hardship on the season during Saturday's game against Mississippi State, as starting point guard Jaland Lowe exited just 2:37 into the game after tweaking his shoulder once again, which also happened two times earlier this season, against Indiana and St. John's. Kentucky fans were very pessimistic once Lowe went out, as the offense has looked abysmal in the past whenever he is not on the floor. But, one specific player emerged as a bright spot in the 24-point win: Jasper Johnson.

The Lexington native hasn't had the best season overall as Kentucky's backup point guard, as he has shown flashes, but never has really put it all together against a high-major opponent. You could say the same thing for the entire team, but it certainly has been the case for Johnson, specifically. But on Saturday, the Wildcats were in need of someone to step up and make plays and initiate the offense at point guard, and that's what Johnson did, and was a huge part in the offense moving better. The freshman has had growing pains, but he put a nice performance together all while matched up against the best player in the SEC. Johnson barely impacted the stat sheet, but he was certainly affective on the floor, taking care of the ball and helping the offense flow with much better ball-movement. He was also a major factor in Kentucky's assist-to-turnover ratio of 21-9, the team's highest of the season against a power conference team.

With Lowe's status for the future up in the air, Pope knows it's time for Johnson to continue stepping up and play some significant minutes at point guard and start making contributions in the stat sheet, too. The Kentucky head coach talked about his play and what he wants from him moving forward on the UK Sports Network following the game: "I thought Jasper was great tonight. ...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."

It's going to take a team effort moving forward for Kentucky to try and turn their season around, and it starts at point guard. If Lowe is out a few games, or even the rest of the season, which Pope acknowledged is a possibility right now, the Wildcats will certainly need their freshman to step up, who was a four-star recruit coming out of high school.