Mark Pope shared encouraging injury updates on a pair of Wildcats

These two Wildcats are progressing well in their return from injury.

Nov 7, 2025; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Jaland Lowe (15) handles the ball during the first half against the Valparaiso Beacons at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images | Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Mark Pope continues to share positive news for a pair of certain Wildcats. As it pertains to Jayden Quaintance, he has been working his way back rehabbing from an ACL injury back in February. With Jaland Lowe, he injured his shoulder in the team's blue-white scrimmage before hurting it again in practice the day before the Eastern Illinois matchup on Nov. 14.

With Quaintance, the progress has seemed ahead of schedule for nearly a month now, slowly iching closer to an on-court return in a real game. But with Lowe, things were looking very doom and gloom after he re-injured his shoulder in practice almost two weeks ago. That was until Mark Pope's comments on Friday, where he said they would "take another swing at it" if rehab continued to go well, adding that it's a day-to-day monitoring process.

On his call-in show Monday, Mark Pope provided some more clarity and updated Lowe's situation, saying he returned to non-contact drills in practice, slowly making progress.

"Jaland Lowe was on the court today in non-contact skill work," Pope said. "He’s making progress, which is really exciting. It’ll continue to be a day-to-day scenario. It was good to see him, not just in the skill work, but also out there coaching, which is going to be a really important part of what he does when he’s playing on the floor and in practice. We’re trying to give him more and more responsibility. He’s doing well."

It certainly sounds like he's really trying to get back on the floor for the Wildcats after weighing his options over the last week since his injury. The positive updates didn't stop with Quaintance, as after saying he participated in 2-on-2 live drills in practice on Friday, Pope said he has turned it up a notch, now doing 3-on-3 drills.

"There's still a safety protocol with him when he's doing any type of almost live action. He was in 3-on-3 today, first time he's done some 3-on-3. He's making steady progress." It sounds like Quaintance is getting closer and closer to making his debut by the day at this point after fans have received one encouraging update after another lately.

The 6-10 big man is going to be a massive boost for Kentucky's frontcourt, and same for whenever Lowe returns to the backcourt. Those two are clearly two of the team's best players, and rightfully so, because they have plenty of starpower attached to him. We've seen Lowe's impact already, and we know what Quaintance is capable of. There's a reason he's so high as an NBA Draft prospect.