When I saw Pope was pursuing Lowe, I was skeptical but I want to share why having a sub-30 percent three point shooter on the roster is going to result in the 2026 Wildcats being a much better shooting team than the 2025 Cats. I’ve been watching film on Jaland Lowe —- full games, not highlights. You never get the right feel for how someone plays in highlights, so I recommend watching full games. Here are some takeaways I had about Lowe.
- He has elite, elite, ELITE speed. Even at moderate speed, he was the fastest player on the court. He’s just as fast with the ball. Seeing Lowe speed through two or three defenders in a single motion is routine for him and fans are going to be surprised just how easily he beats defenders off the bounce.
- He has elite court vision and passing. He can make every pass imaginable and even some that no one should ever need to make. I watched him, on one play, beat two defenders off the dribble from the top of the key and get two feet into the left side of the paint. He then entered into a double-clutch acrobatic layup, felt the attention of help defenders and launched a perfectly accurate overhead pass across the court to the opposite corner for a wide open three. Even my explanation does no justice, go watch it yourself.
- Jaland Lowe, on day one, is going to be one the best pure dribblers/ball handlers you’ve seen in a Kentucky uniform. I thought about whether this is hyperbole and decided it really isn’t. We have had a select few players that have had the deadly arsenal of dribble moves this guy has. Expect ankle breakers and expect them very often.
- I will get the concerns out of the way because I know some people will ask about his defense and his shooting. I’m not a professional scout but his defense didn’t impress me on tape. To be fair, he was guarding Chucky Hepburn a lot of the game and that’s a tough assignment for anyone but I’ll note that he got into poor position more than a couple times and it led to easy drives.
- As for his shot, you see that he has a little Mark Sears in his shot mechanics. The reason why he misses so much is he doesn’t finish the shots. In other words, he is prone to lacking follow through and it results in a lot of “rushed” shots. Already have seen some YouTube seminars about shooting from Pope from back in his earlier coaching days. I have no worries the mechanical issue will be fixed because this is a major emphasis by Pope.
- All of that said, even if Lowe ends up let’s say a 32 percent three point shooter, it won’t hurt. Why? The guy is so fast and so confident with the ball, is such an amazing passer that you cannot just sag the guy. One blink and he is already in the paint. One inch of space and a teammate has already been delivered the ball for an open look.
Last year, our starting rotation only had one player you’d consider a pure shooter and he was in a slump for half the season (Jaxson Robinson). You had a sixth man (Koby Brea) who was an elite shooter but was fairly one dimensional. That’s really about it. Other guys could make shots but weren’t necessarily shooters. I bet you this season our team three point percentage is slightly lower but the attempts are going to be through the roof. The roster still has some work left but I’m very confident we are about to have a blast watching Jaland Lowe with this team.
- He has elite, elite, ELITE speed. Even at moderate speed, he was the fastest player on the court. He’s just as fast with the ball. Seeing Lowe speed through two or three defenders in a single motion is routine for him and fans are going to be surprised just how easily he beats defenders off the bounce.
- He has elite court vision and passing. He can make every pass imaginable and even some that no one should ever need to make. I watched him, on one play, beat two defenders off the dribble from the top of the key and get two feet into the left side of the paint. He then entered into a double-clutch acrobatic layup, felt the attention of help defenders and launched a perfectly accurate overhead pass across the court to the opposite corner for a wide open three. Even my explanation does no justice, go watch it yourself.
- Jaland Lowe, on day one, is going to be one the best pure dribblers/ball handlers you’ve seen in a Kentucky uniform. I thought about whether this is hyperbole and decided it really isn’t. We have had a select few players that have had the deadly arsenal of dribble moves this guy has. Expect ankle breakers and expect them very often.
- I will get the concerns out of the way because I know some people will ask about his defense and his shooting. I’m not a professional scout but his defense didn’t impress me on tape. To be fair, he was guarding Chucky Hepburn a lot of the game and that’s a tough assignment for anyone but I’ll note that he got into poor position more than a couple times and it led to easy drives.
- As for his shot, you see that he has a little Mark Sears in his shot mechanics. The reason why he misses so much is he doesn’t finish the shots. In other words, he is prone to lacking follow through and it results in a lot of “rushed” shots. Already have seen some YouTube seminars about shooting from Pope from back in his earlier coaching days. I have no worries the mechanical issue will be fixed because this is a major emphasis by Pope.
- All of that said, even if Lowe ends up let’s say a 32 percent three point shooter, it won’t hurt. Why? The guy is so fast and so confident with the ball, is such an amazing passer that you cannot just sag the guy. One blink and he is already in the paint. One inch of space and a teammate has already been delivered the ball for an open look.
Last year, our starting rotation only had one player you’d consider a pure shooter and he was in a slump for half the season (Jaxson Robinson). You had a sixth man (Koby Brea) who was an elite shooter but was fairly one dimensional. That’s really about it. Other guys could make shots but weren’t necessarily shooters. I bet you this season our team three point percentage is slightly lower but the attempts are going to be through the roof. The roster still has some work left but I’m very confident we are about to have a blast watching Jaland Lowe with this team.
