Former ACC point guard Jaland Lowe announced yesterday morning that he plans to enter the transfer portal after spending one season at Kentucky.

Lowe has ties to the Miami Hurricanes staff. His godfather is John Lucas, the father of Hurricanes head coach Jai Lucas.

Lowe had an up-and-down year with Kentucky, dealing with a shoulder injury suffered before the 2025–26 season. He played in just nine games, averaging 8.0 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in 18 minutes per game, while shooting 35.8% from the field and 20.8% from three.

Before transferring to Kentucky, Lowe was the main guy for a Pittsburgh Panthers squad. He started 31 games as a sophomore and 19 as a freshman. During the 2023–24 season, he averaged 12.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game in conference play.

In the 2024–25 season, Lowe averaged 16.8 points, 5.5 assists, 1.8 steals, and 4.2 rebounds over 30 games, while playing 35.4 minutes per contest. He shot 37.7% from the field, 26.8% from three, and 88.3% from the free-throw line.

Miami is looking to replace starting point guard Tre Donaldson, and Lowe’s already has connections to the staff.

Will the Hurricanes make a move? Time will tell.

 

Not what we need, unless he is ok being a backup.

 

Not what we need, unless he is ok being a backup.

Doubt he's looking to do that in which case I say pass

 

He was good at Pitt. If anyone can return him to form it's Jai. But I think there will be better options.

 

He was good at Pitt. If anyone can return him to form it's Jai. But I think there will be better options.

His shooting percentages at Pitt were terrible. Seemed like a volume scorer who wasnt efficient.

 

Better than you guys are giving him credit for - 3rd team All ACC as a sophomore.

 

Better than you guys are giving him credit for - 3rd team All ACC as a sophomore.

Is calling him a volume scorer with bad shooting percentages an unfair comment to make?

 

Best free throw shooter by a mile on this team lol

 

I watched UK play quite a few games last year. And after every game I called my brother in law, who played at UK in the ‘80’s, and said the same thing, “they need a point guard”.
I would not touch a PG off that UK team with a 10 foot pole. UK effectively played without a PG, and it completely limited their team and forced a shooting guard/small forward, Otega Oweh, to have PG responsibilities. And it ended poorly and predictably.

UK’s entire portal class was a disaster. This young man has been pushed off their team. We should not be collecting scraps off the cutting room floor.

 

We only get three or four swings at the transfer portal to replace our four most productive players, gotta get it right. Pass.

 

His shooting percentages at Pitt were terrible. Seemed like a volume scorer who wasnt efficient.

Exactly. People fall in love with the overall numbers, but efficiency is what matters. It's impossible to win with a volume scoring guard, especially a PG. No thank you. Now, if he wants to come for a low NIL number and be depth, I wouldn't mind. That said, this team can't have a 6 man rotation next year, there was far too much dead wood taking up space on the bench.

 

Exactly. People fall in love with the overall numbers, but efficiency is what matters. It's impossible to win with a volume scoring guard, especially a PG. No thank you. Now, if he wants to come for a low NIL number and be depth, I wouldn't mind. That said, this team can't have a 6 man rotation next year, there was far too much dead wood taking up space on the bench.

Definitely need to improve the depth of this team, can’t have players like altuntas coming in off the bench to just stand around and do nothing

 

Didn't we pursue this kid LAST off-season? Or am I confusing him with ANOTHER kid who had connections to the Lucas family?


EDIT: ****, I have a good memory...my man @Trinton Breeze only had to make minor edits to his old story from last year...

 

I watched UK play quite a few games last year. And after every game I called my brother in law, who played at UK in the ‘80’s, and said the same thing, “they need a point guard”.
I would not touch a PG off that UK team with a 10 foot pole. UK effectively played without a PG, and it completely limited their team and forced a shooting guard/small forward, Otega Oweh, to have PG responsibilities. And it ended poorly and predictably.

UK’s entire portal class was a disaster. This young man has been pushed off their team. We should not be collecting scraps off the cutting room floor.

You know I respect your opinions, so I guess I would ask if he was a take 365 days ago when he was coming out of Pitt? And if so, does the injury address the "UK point guard" concerns?

 

You know I respect your opinions, so I guess I would ask if he was a take 365 days ago when he was coming out of Pitt? And if so, does the injury address the "UK point guard" concerns?

I honestly never saw him play at Pitt to offer an opinion. I just thought UK’s PG situation last year was indefensible for a team that spent as much money as they did in the transfer portal.
But here is the rub. Was the PG situation terrible because of the talent at the postion, or because Mark Pope isn’t a good coach? I’m giving Pope the benefit of the doubt because he had success at BYU before coming to UK. But we have seen a lot of coaches who are unable to duplicate success, especially when they move to a higher profile job.

So maybe the faulty is more with Uf and their situation than this young man. And maybe Lucas can find something in him that made the young man so attractive to UK in the first place. But for a team like UM that needs a really good PG to support its young cast, I hope we are able to find a proven commodity.

 

Eh I'd pass but if he wants to come off the bench then sure. Anyone is better than watching 88 and 11.