Mark Pope explains why Jaland Lowe has not been starting for Kentucky

Kentucky put a fully healthy team on the court for the first time this season in the second half of their game against St. John's, as Jayden Quaintance made his debut. The Wildcats played much differently once they were able to get their full squad on the floor together, but a big part of that was point guard Jaland Lowe. This is not to discredit Quaintance at all, but without Lowe, this Kentucky team struggles in many areas, but especially offensively.

Once he was back on the floor, after reaggravating his shoulder just seven seconds after checking in during the first half, Kentucky was able to pull away against St. John's. The same type of situation happened against Indiana, where Lowe played just six minutes in the first half, but 16 in the second. His impact is clear, which, given his injury status, can go down at any moment if his shoulder starts aggravating him. That's why Mark Pope and the staff have taken a cautious approach. Since returning from injury in the Gonzaga game, he hasn't started. The rust has been knocked off, but it has been a matter of keeping him safe, hoping nothing happens to that shoulder.

After having a scare diving for a loose ball in the final minutes of the first half, as well as reaggravating it again in their game against St. John's, Pope is taking it very cautiously as to whether or not to start Jaland Lowe moving forward, especially with those latest scares. That was the reason he was held out against Bellarmine, to give him extra time to heal before SEC play. Pope talked about this on Monday, saying Lowe has looked 'terrific' in practice the last few days, but will be under a 'contact restriction', not necessarily a minute restriction. This goes for games as well, not just practice.

"Jaland is looking terrific," Pope said about Lowe in practice lately. "We’re just being cautious with him. For the rest of the season, we’ll probably keep him around somewhat limited full-contact reps, but he’s gotten some in over the last two days. He’s looked really good. I can’t have him out there as a tired body. That’s when he’s most exposed."

What is Pope's thinking behind having not started him in any of his games played? "We’re trying to limit his contact and exposure so much in practice that, the thinking behind that is like, let’s protect the integrity of the group that we have getting most of the reps in practice to actually be able to go perform on the court, just to give some continuity." Pope isn't sure if that's the right way to go about it, but it's something they'll continue to be thinking about moving forward. "That might not be the right answer. We’re going to kind of explore that as we go. It also gives you a chance to maybe extend his healthy window, which we’re hoping is going to be the entire season, by not being the headline guy at the beginning of a scout."

It's clear to everyone, even opponents, that Jaland Lowe is the engine that makes this team run smoothly. We'll see if this approach works, because it will be interesting to see the philosophy behind how to balance his time on the floor with his effectiveness, making sure they're not falling behind as much when he's not on the floor. All in all, they're trying to protect their most important player, and they're doing whatever it takes to do just that.