With Jaland Lowe out again, Kentucky beats Bellarmine before holiday break

Ben Roberts, Lexington Herald-Leader on Dec 23, 2025

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky was without its complement of players yet again Tuesday afternoon.

For this one, it didn’t matter.

The Wildcats defeated Bellarmine, 99-85, in a rare weekday matinee game in Rupp Arena. It was the team’s final game of the calendar year, as well as the last nonconference matchup on the 2025-26 schedule. UK will go into SEC play next month with a 9-4 record, and the Cats were 26th in the voting in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Kentucky played Tuesday without top point guard Jaland Lowe, who has been dealing with a right shoulder injury since October and has now missed seven games on the season.

Lowe reinjured his shoulder Saturday against St. John’s, playing just seven seconds in the first half before returning to play nearly 15 minutes in the second half, leading the Cats to their biggest win of the season in the process.

UK coach Mark Pope said before the game Tuesday that he would be managing Lowe’s injury for the rest of the season, so it wasn’t a surprise that he didn’t play against Bellarmine, which entered the day as 35-point underdogs.

“He’s doing good. He’s got some pain. But he’s gonna live with some pain every day for the rest of the year,” Pope said in his pregame radio interview.

The Knights (5-7) hung around early — it was a one-possession game with a minute left in the first half, and the score was 46-38 at halftime — thanks to eight UK turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, when Bellarmine shot 12 for 23 from the field, 4 for 8 on 3-pointers and went a perfect 10 for 10 on free throws.

Kentucky pulled away after that.

The Cats took their first double-digit lead of the day on the opening possession of the second half — a dunk by Mouhamed Dioubate — and Kam Williams caught fire from the perimeter to help UK protect its comfortable advantage, though Kentucky never led by more than 18 points.

Williams led the way with a career-high 26 points, and he was 8 for 10 from 3-point range. The eight made 3s were also a career high, and this was just his second 20-point game as a college player. As a freshman at Tulane last season, Williams scored 24 points in a victory over UAB.

Dioubate added 20 points, five rebounds, three blocks and two steals. Otega Oweh flirted with a triple-double, finishing with 10 points, eight rebounds and a career-high 10 assists. Denzel Aberdeen had 14 points, and Jasper Johnson added 11 points and seven assists off the bench.

Jayden Quaintance had an underwhelming Rupp Arena debut after his standout performance in a 78-66 victory over St. John’s on Saturday, his first game as a Kentucky player. In this one, Quaintance played only two shifts off the bench — one in each half — finishing with four points and two rebounds in eight minutes.

Kentucky was 16 for 30 from 3-point range, the most makes from the perimeter so far this season. The Cats shot 58.9% from the field and had 24 assists on 33 made baskets.

Bellarmine is the last team outside the KenPom top 100 that Kentucky will play this season, and Pope used the occasion to play several different lineups. Even with Lowe sidelined, 11 Wildcats played before the midway point of the first half.

Brandon Garrison did not play in the second half. The junior forward, who appeared to be favoring one of his legs, spent time talking to senior athletic trainer Brandon Wells early in the half before putting his warmups on and sitting for the rest of the game.

Kentucky will now get a week and a half off before its next game, and it will be a tough one.

The Wildcats will begin SEC play on Jan. 3 at Alabama, which is ranked No. 14 nationally and will be among the favorites to win the regular-season league title. All three of the Crimson Tide’s losses have come to teams currently ranked in the top 10 — No. 1 Arizona, No. 5 Purdue and No. 7 Gonzaga — and they have early season victories over now-No. 20 Illinois and St. John’s.

Vanderbilt, at No. 11 in the current rankings, is the only team above Bama in the AP Top 25 poll. Coach Nate Oats’ team is eighth nationally in scoring, averaging 93.9 points per game, and third in the country with 35.1 3-point attempts per game.