While it remains to be seen when, or even if, we’ll see Jaland Lowe again this season, the Kentucky basketball point guard hasn’t thrown in the towel just yet.
On his first Monday radio show of the season,
head coach Mark Pope announced that Lowe is back practicing with the team, though it’s just non-contact work so far.
“Jaland Lowe was on the court today in non-contact skill work,” said Pope. “He’s making progress, which is really exciting, and it’ll continue to be a day-to-day scenario.”
Pope wouldn’t divulge when we could see Lowe again, but if he’s doing non-contact work, it still could be several weeks away from a return based on standard practice procedure.
However, given the fact that Lowe has hurt his shoulder three times now — once in the summer, once in the Blue-White Game, and then once in practice on November 13 — Kentucky may simply be keeping him out of contact work in practice from here on out in an attempt to minimize his risk of a reinjury.
Even if Lowe plays again this season, we’d likely be seeing him in a reduced role off the bench, something like when he made his debut against Valparaiso and only played 18 minutes off the bench. I seriously doubt we’ll see Lowe log 30 minutes again this season like he did in the loss to Louisville. It’s painfully evident that his shoulder is far too susceptible to reinjury to risk having him do contact in practice and play heavy minutes in live games.
This is the situation Kentucky will likely have to deal with moving forward. At least that could include Lowe at some point, even if it’s in a reduced role, after it appeared he could have season-ending surgery.
If Lowe is to play again this season, my guess is we see him return by the time Kentucky hosts Indiana on December 13.
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