It was the night Kentucky fans had circled for months, and it almost turned into a nightmare in seven seconds.
Jayden Quaintance, the former five star and projected lottery pick, finally made his long awaited debut. Big Blue Nation barely had time to exhale as minutes before a huge injury scare hit. Jaland Lowe checked in, made contact, and walked straight to the locker room holding his shoulder. The energy in Catlanta flipped in an instant.
By the end of the night, both were on the floor, and Kentucky was walking out with a win that felt bigger than the box score.
For Quaintance, just getting to this game felt like a minor miracle. He made sure everyone knew who dragged him back from the ACL injury he suffered last season.
“I could not have been here at all without the help of the people on my right,” Quaintance said, pointing to the training and performance staff. “We have been in here every day since June, just working every single day.”
Mark Pope is scared watching Jayden Quaintance play
You could feel how much it meant to Mark Pope too. He has watched this rehab up close.
“JQ is just bold and brave and fearless to the point where he makes me nervous,” Pope said with a smile. “It was pretty special to see him out there again. He is going to fight through this deal and he is going to be great.”
In limited minutes, Quaintance still gave Kentucky exactly what it has been missing. A real rim protector, a vertical target, someone who changes the way the other team thinks at the basket. One big block, his first bucket as a Cat, and a jolt of belief that this frontcourt can be something nasty by March. 10 points, 8 boards, and 5 blocks later, JQ is looking like a huge part of of what Kentucky basketball will be going forward.
Then there was Lowe, the “oh no” that turned into a “thank goodness.”
He admitted the moment in the locker room was tense.
“Sheesh, man,” Lowe said. “I told these guys at halftime, I am going to go out there, I am going to live with it. My guys know what comes with it, but at the end of the day, I am a competitor.”
Once he came back, everything looked different. The offense had structure again. The pace settled. The turnovers that wrecked Kentucky in the first half started to vanish.
Pope even joked about the whole thing afterward.
“You saw one half without JLo and you saw one half with JLo,” he said. “I am voting for the half with JLo. The first half was kind of a vacation for him.”
It is only December, and Kentucky still has a long way to go. But getting Quaintance on the court and seeing Lowe shake off that scare in the same game is the kind of double swing that can change a season.
If those two stay upright, the team that struggled its way to 5 and 4 might look very different by the time the bracket drops.