Jaland Lowe knows being a great point guard requires great leadership qualities

Lowe knows how important his leadership qualities are to Kentucky's success.

Jaland Lowe | UK Athletics

Mark Pope knew entering the offseason that he needed to find a facilitator to help lead Kentucky's offense, and he found one in Jaland Lowe. All of the talk over the summer with Lowe has been improving his efficiency, and it appears he has already made progress in that aspect, according to Pope. Aside from that, one of the most important qualities in a point guard is their leadership, and Lowe knows that.

A lot of point guards love to score the ball, but for Lowe, he describes himself more as a true point guard, meaning he has a pass-first attitude and has a knack for getting his teammates involved. Lowe talked in-depth at media day on Monday about having that true point guard attitude and why it also comes with being a great leader, which will be very important in gauging Kentucky's success this season.

"I take a lot of pride in that," Lowe said. "I will always keep the point guard staying alive, no matter if it's dead to the public or not. That's what I am. And you know, at that point, you can define what a point guard is, if they score a little bit more now, if they assist a little bit more, whatever that is. But I like to describe myself as a point guard. I'm glad these guys around me have described me as a true point guard. ...I had to learn how to be a leader as a sophomore last year on a team, so that was very different, just taking experiences from how I was a freshman, how I listen to older guys lead, and, you know, being a sophomore, being a young leader, and trying to have a voice as somebody so young, and then coming into a new team. There's been a lot of ups and downs with it, but just figuring out how to talk to guys, it's just something as a point guard that you have to try and learn. And you know, if you want to be a good point guard, you got to be a great leader."

What also helps with being a great leader on your team is having great chemistry with your teammates, and the 6-1 guard says that is coming very easy to accomplish with this group.

"You got to establish a good bond with them off the court. I feel like every single person on this team I try and hang out with all the time. I mean, they make it so easy," Lowe said. "Everybody wants to hang out all the time. Everybody's so fun to be around. So once you establish having great relationships with guys off the court, you know that when you're on the court, you have no bad blood with them, you have no harm intentions, and everything's for the better of the team."

Lowe is such an integral part of Kentucky's success this season as the point guard, which means the leader of the offense, and he's ready to take on that role on the big stage that is Kentucky.