Three takeaways from Kentucky's annual Pro Day on Tuesday

Kentucky men's basketball held their annual Pro Day on Tuesday evening inside Historic Memorial Coliseum, where fans were able to get their first look at Mark Pope's 2025-26 squad as it streamed on SEC Network+. It is worth noting Otega Oweh was held out for precautionary reasons. He didn't dress in uniform, but he did help the coaches with drills.

There are a number of things to take away from Pope's squad, one that looked very good, not just skill wise, but communicating on and off the floor. The attention to detail on defense and their athleticism was on full display. Let's get into a few takeaways.

Jayden Quaintance moved very well in drills

Quaintance, who is currently continuing his rehab from an ACL injury, has been on the court in practice participating in drills. Tuesday was Kentucky fans first look at the 6-10 big man, a player who is one of the highest-regarding NBA Draft prospects in college basketball. His work was limited, but what he did, which was dunking and shooting, looked really good. It's not often a player coming off an injury moves as well as Quaintance did on Tuesday.

The 6-10 big man is expected to come back sometime in the middle of Kentucky's season, likely around the end of the December, but it already looks like he is ahead of schedule in terms of rehab. Mark Pope spoke on Monday about a potential updated timeline, saying. "Time wise, he's just going so fast, but we are going to proceed with extreme caution."

This Kentucky team loves to communicate and compete

Some teams can be quiet, not just off the floor, but on. This Kentucky team is so competitive that they rarely aren't talking on the floor. Even after plays, you have teammates clapping and cheering from the sideline. But more importantly, the communication never stopped on the court during plays. Talking is so important in terms of executing plays, and the Wildcats have put that on display heading into the season.

Otega Oweh specifically talked about just how high of a competitive fire this team has at media day on Monday, specifically the differences from this time last year to now. "The competitive energy for this team is huge. Like every single day we're doing drills where, you know, there's a winner. So I'd say that's kind of different, where it keeps you really engaged." One player that is really talked about a lot with competitiveness is Mo Dioubate, who is an absolute versatile physical force.

Kentucky's emphasis on being great defensively is clear

The Kentucky basketball team showed plenty of emphasis on being a great defensive team, as they did plenty of defensive drills where not only was the term "championship chest" thrown around throughout practice, but Pope clearly made it an emphasis to be great on close-outs, on-ball defense as a whole, and help defense, which means sliding over if your teammate gets beat to the basket.

It was also encouraging to see the year two players looking like they have improved, especially Trent Noah, who not only buried some threes, but also held his own and battled in the post on defense. He's certainly due for a bigger role. Brandon Garrison was also able to show off a little bit of playmaking, which is an emphasis for him this season, and Collin Chandler even got in a few posterizing dunks. As far as newcomers, something that comes as a bit of a surprise is how well Malachi Moreno looked. It's clear not only is he one of the team's best rebounders, but he's also shown an improved shot, consistently knocking them down. Expect him to give quality production whenever he gets on the floor. Then you have point guard Jaland Lowe, who showed off his quickness and ability to make the perfect reads quickly on passes.

There was plenty of things to like from this Kentucky squad. Overall, the Wildcats showed a lot of promise in the limited time fans got with them in the many drills they did. Basketball season is officially here.