Mark Pope knows Jaland Lowe makes Kentucky's offense run much smoother

Kentucky got a major piece of their team back in starting point guard Jaland Lowe on Friday against Valparaiso. The last two games, counting the exhibition against Georgetown, Kentucky's offense looked stagnant, with not much flow to it. But, once they got Jaland Lowe back, everything ran a lot smoother for a Mark Pope system that needs its offense to be good. Well, it certainly was much better on Friday.

The Wildcats shot 54 percent overall, including 11-28 from three-point range, on their way to scoring 107 points on the night. Jaland Lowe was a big part of that, contributing 6 points and 5 assists, but his impact was more than just in the stat sheet. With him on the floor and the way he looks to facilitate, it opens up the offense a lot more and creates opportunities for efficient shots and more space too. Mark Pope knows how much easier he makes things for Kentucky's offense.

"He just makes things really easy," Pope said postgame. "I thought Jaland was great. He's a 5-0 (assist-turnover) guy in his first first game in a Kentucky uniform, and he comes in, he's 5-0 off the bench. It's really impressive. He can get wherever he wants to go on the floor. And that means a lot to us. That really has a huge function for our team. I thought he was terrific defensively. He made an unbelievable saving play in transition one possession, the rest of the team just wasn't there to help him. But I think he's a difference-maker for us. He's going to be massively important to this team. He's got a ton of experience, and he's just cat quick and gets wherever he wants, whatever he wants, whenever it wants."

Kentucky had not seen Lowe since he went down with a shoulder injury in the blue-white game on Oct. 17, until Friday against Valpo, and the Wildcats looked like a much different team on the offensive end. Their defense has been spectacular in the regular season, holding Nicholls to just 30 percent overall and 4-24 from three, and then held Valpo to just 28 percent overall and 8-34 from deep. But Kentucky fans should be ecstatic to see the offense where it needs to be, and that's high-powered and efficient, and Jaland Lowe is the centerpiece of that. You saw last game that when Collin Chandler was at the two instead of running the offense, things were much smoother. Now, Kentucky has their main catalyst back driving the offense in Lowe.

The Wildcats will look to keep the offensive production going when they take on Louisville on the road on Tuesday. That could end up being a high-scoring classic in the storied in-state rivalry.