Those choosing to remain optimistic after Kentucky’s less-than-stellar start to the men’s college basketball season could point to injuries as one logical reason why.
The 18th-ranked Wildcats (5-3) have dropped their first three games against ranked competition — the latest a 67-64 loss to North Carolina in Rupp Arena on Tuesday night — but they’ve traversed the early portion of their schedule with three of their most important players in and out of the lineup.
And all three of those players — Mouhamed Dioubate, Jaland Lowe and Jayden Quaintance — were absent from the loss to the Tar Heels this week.
On the eve of Kentucky’s game against No. 11 Gonzaga in Nashville on Friday night, UK coach Mark Pope provided injury updates on all three Wildcats.
Dioubate, the team’s starting power forward, was the most recent to see the court, suffering a sprained ankle in an 83-66 loss to Michigan State on Nov. 18 and missing the past three games with that injury.
Pope on Friday clarified that Dioubate has a high ankle sprain, a more serious version of the injury, and described it as “a torn ligament” in his ankle area. Dioubate won’t be available against Gonzaga, Pope said.
He added that there’s a chance Dioubate could return next week. The Wildcats host North Carolina Central on Tuesday night and Indiana next Saturday.
“There’s a chance maybe next week; we’ll see,” Pope said. “These things sometimes can be weeks and weeks and weeks. So he’s doing everything he can to get back.”
The Wildcats certainly could have used him Tuesday night. Dioubate was brought to UK, in part, to provide some physicality, especially on the boards. Against UNC, the Cats surrendered 20 offensive rebounds and lost second-chance points by a margin of 22-5.
Lowe, who was expected to be the team’s starting point guard, began the regular season on the bench with a shoulder injury. He appeared in two games — most recently the 96-88 loss at Louisville on Nov. 11 — before reinjuring his right (non-shooting) shoulder in practice, and he hasn’t played since.
Pope said Lowe has participated in some “live” activity during recent practices and would try to do more Thursday. He didn’t close the door on Lowe playing against Gonzaga on Friday night — “I don’t know. We’ll see,” Pope said — and implied that his work in Thursday’s practice would be of the full-contact variety.
“He’s kind of working his way back in,” Pope said. “We’ll see how that goes.”
The junior point guard could have come in handy Tuesday night, too. Kentucky managed just eight assists against the Tar Heels — tying the lowest total for the Pope era so far — and its offense was stagnant for most of the night.
UK’s coaches expected to have Dioubate and Lowe at this stage of the season. They knew it would be unlikely for Quaintance to be on the court. The 6-foot-10 sophomore — projected as a lottery pick in the 2026 NBA draft — is still less than nine months removed from surgery for a torn ACL, though Pope has been rosy with recent updates regarding the 18-year-old forward.
Last month, the UK coach referenced a “really, really important strength test” that would be coming up for Quaintance in about three weeks. It’s been about four weeks since he made that statement, and Pope offered a fresh update on Quaintance’s recovery Thursday morning.
“He killed it. He crushed it,” Pope said of Quaintance’s performance in that test. “Now, we’re working him back into some parts of practice. He still can’t be a full scout team body. We’re not going to let him do that yet. We’re going to bring him back slowly. He actually played in some full court, 5-on-5 with our grad assistants, and we grabbed a couple of kids from the rec center. I think he had a lot of fun doing that yesterday and felt pretty good. … He’s making good progress.”
The 18th-ranked Wildcats will play No. 11 Gonzaga at 7 p.m. EST on Friday on ESPN2.
Kentucky forward Mouhamed Dioubate has missed the Wildcats’ past three games with an ankle injury. Ryan C. Hermens rhermens@herald-leader.com
This story was originally published December 4, 2025 at 10:50 AM.
Ben Roberts
Lexington Herald-Leader
Ben Roberts is the University of Kentucky men’s basketball beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He has previously specialized in UK basketball recruiting coverage and created and maintained the Next Cats blog. He is a Franklin County native and first joined the Herald-Leader in 2006.
Support my work with a digital subscription
