Oct 24, 2025; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Denzel Aberdeen (1) shoots the ball against Purdue Boilermakers guard C.J. Cox (0) during the second half at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Mark Pope gives an uncertain injury update on Jaland Lowe and Denzel Aberdeen ahead of the season opener

Originally posted on Kentucky Wildcats on SI
By Andrew Stefaniak | Last updated Nov 3, 2025 3:46 PM ET

The season opener for Kentucky is coming up on Tuesday as the Wildcats are set to host Nicholls in Rupp Arena. The Wildcats, of course, have already played two exhibition games in Rupp Arena this season, but this will be the first game that actually counts on the record of Mark Pope's team.

In the loss to Georgetown, the Wildcats were without guards Jaland Lowe and Denzel Aberdeen. Both of these players are expected to start this season for Pope's team, and the Wildcats looked lost offensively without them on the floor.

While Kentucky should be able to beat Nicholls quite easily with these two on the floor, the same was said about Georgetown, and that did not end up being the case.

Scott Utterback/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Jon Rothstein tweeted today that he spoke with Coach Pope and that the Wildcats' head coach is unsure if either Lowe or Aberdeen is going to play in this game. Just trying to diagnose coach speak here, the word unsure is interesting.

If Coach Pope said he was hopeful these two would be able to go, that would give me some more confidence, but "unsure" to me makes it sound like the Wildcats could be without these two.

Against Georgetown, the offense did not flow well because Lowe and Aberdeen were not on the floor, and the Wildcats played a lot of hero ball. Obviously, Kentucky's half-court offense runs through the bigs, but the point guard still handles a lot of responsibility on offense, especially in transition, so not having these two hurts the Wildcats.

If Lowe or Aberdeen are not able to play tomorrow, Kentucky will need a player to step up, and that will likely be Jasper Johnson or Collin Chandler. These two did not play well against Georgetown, but hopefully, they learned from watching the film of this game, and this week of practice has made them better.

Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

The main priority for Kentucky needs to be making sure that Lowe and Aberdeen are back on the floor before the Wildcats take on the Louisville Cardinals in the KFC Yum Center.

The Cards really want to win this game, and Kentucky needs to walk into this basketball game as close to 100% as possible.

Before the game starts, Coach Pope is going to be able to give an update on the health of Lowe and Aberdeen, and hopefully, these two are close to being back on the floor as the season officially starts tomorrow night against Nicholls.

This article first appeared on Kentucky Wildcats on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: