Sometimes numbers lie. Sometimes they don't. But the eye test tells you one part of the story, and the numbers fill in the gaps.
Against St. John’s, Jaland Lowe played only 14 minutes and 41 seconds. Jayden Quaintance played 17 minutes and 13 seconds. That is it. Yet their plus minus says everything about why Kentucky looked like one team in the first half and a completely different one after the break.
Jaland Lowe and Jayden Quaintance swing the game with elite two way minutes
Lowe finished with 13 points on 5 of 7 shooting, 1 of 2 from deep and a perfect 2 of 2 at the line. He added 3 assists and 3 rebounds, did not commit a turnover, and posted a game best plus 20. When he was on the floor, Kentucky outscored St. John’s by twenty. When he sat, the offense went right back into the mud.
Quaintance was not far behind. In just over 17 minutes, he went 5 of 7 from the field, grabbed 8 rebounds, drew contact, played through it, and finished with 10 points and a plus 18. That is the kind of impact number you normally see from veterans who have been in the system for years, not an 18 year old big coming off a major injury in his first real run. He also had 5 blocks while dealing with Zuby Ejiofor.
Look at the context around them. Kentucky won the glass 39 to 28, dominated the paint 30 to 20, and looked like a different team defensively once those two were part of the regular rotation. The Wildcats had seven blocks as a team. The Red Storm shot only 33 percent from the field and 26 percent from three.
Everyone will remember the highlights, the blocks, the drives, the emotion. But the raw math backs it up. This team with no true point guard and no lottery pick big man was flirting with disaster at 5 and 4. The version that has Lowe steering the ship and Quaintance cleaning everything up at the rim looks a whole lot more like the top 10 group people expected in October.
If both stay healthy, those plus minus numbers might just be the first clue that Kentucky’s season turned in Atlanta.
The Cats will take on Bellarmine back in Lexington for an afternoon game on the 23rd. They will then take over a week over with the next game coming as the SEC opener in Tuscaloosa against the Crimson Tide.