Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope is confident that Jaland Lowe, a transfer from Pitt, has the potential to become a more efficient — and more dangerous — weapon in Lexington.
“Jaland Lowe was elite in terms of raw stats. Points, assists, everything else he did in the game was really good,” Pope said in an interview with KSR. “But he wasn’t a super efficient player last year. Part of it was because he had to do a lot.”
Lowe averaged 16.8 points, 5.5 assists, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game as a sophomore while playing and starting in all 31 games. He logged 35.4 minutes per contest, serving as Pitt’s engine on both ends of the floor.
“It’s no takeaway from Pitt. Pitt’s a great program. They do a great job,” Pope added. “It’s just the situation he was in.”
According to Pope, Lowe ranked in the 90th percentile in the country for taking the highest percentage of shots that fell in the bottom 20% of shot quality. In other words, he was forced to make difficult shots throughout the season — a product of the system, not necessarily his decision-making.
“He was trying to make the hardest plays in the game of basketball and make them over and over again,” Pope said.
He compared Lowe’s potential trajectory to former Kentucky guard Lamont Butler, who drastically improved his efficiency with smarter shot selection. Pope believes Lowe can do the same — simply by adjusting how he approaches the game, not overhauling his skill set.
Pope says that that kind of evolution “can transform your entire game.” Kentucky will need that to be the case in order to become a true championship contender next season.
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