College basketball rankings: Kentucky on winning streak, but questions remain due to Jaland Lowe's injury
Lowe, the team's best point guard, left the Wildcats' win vs. Bellarmine on Tuesday with a shoulder injury
By
Gary Parrish
•
1 min read
Matt Norlander and I just taped a (super-long) #MailbagEpisode of the Eye on College Basketball Podcast that will publish Friday. Among other things, we were asked what storylines we're most interested in following as this season progresses.
One of my answers: Kentucky.
The Wildcats beat Bellarmine 99-85 Tuesday to extend their winning streak to four games, improve to 9-4 on the season and remain No. 21 in Wednesday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Michigan is No. 1 for the 15th consecutive day. That's the good. But the bad, or at least the concerning, is that just three days after starring in the second half of UK's 78-66 win over St. John's in the CBS Sports Classic, Jaland Lowe, the team's best point guard, was once again sidelined by a shoulder injury that dates to the preseason and has now resulted in the transfer from Pitt missing seven of Kentucky's first 13 contests.
According to coach Mark Pope, the move was precautionary more than anything else -- and Pope added that he expects Lowe to "play every game" moving forward, starting with the SEC opener at Alabama on Jan. 3. But the truth is that nobody can, with any degree of certainty, predict how Lowe's season will unfold. Remember, he tried to play in the first half against UNC, entered the game a few minutes after tip-off but then exited abruptly after reaggravating it just seven seconds later.
Lowe missed the rest of the half.
At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, how Lowe's shoulder holds up really could be the difference between the Wildcats making the 2026 Final Four or them struggling through parts of the SEC schedule. So, yeah, that'll be one of the biggest storylines to follow as the calendar flips to January -- whether UK can find a groove with Lowe consistently running things, or if he's in and out of the lineup too much to matter.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Biggest Movers
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Aday Mara finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds in Sunday's 102-50 win over La Salle. The Wolverines' next game is Monday against McNeese. | -- | 11-0 |
| 2 |  | Brayden Burries finished with 20 points and four assists in Monday's 107-71 win over Bethune Cookman. The Wildcats' next game is Monday against South Dakota State. | -- | 12-0 |
| 3 |  | Milan Momcilovic finished with 27 points and three rebounds in Sunday's 91-60 win over Long Beach State. The Cyclones' next game is Monday against Houston Christian. | -- | 12-0 |
| 4 |  | Alex Karaban finished with 21 points and six rebounds in Sunday's 72-54 win at DePaul. The Huskies' next game is Dec. 31 at Xavier. | -- | 12-1 |
| 5 |  | AJ Dybantsa finished with 33 points and 10 assists in Monday's 109-81 win over Eastern Washington. The Cougars' next game is Jan. 3 at Kansas State. | -- | 12-1 |
| 6 |  | Trey Kaufman-Renn finished with 18 points and six rebounds in Saturday's 88-60 win over Auburn. The Boilermakers' next game is Monday against Kent State. | -- | 11-1 |
| 7 |  | Braeden Smith finished with 21 points and seven assists in Sunday's 91-82 win at Oregon. the Zags' next game is Sunday against Pepperdine. | -- | 12-1 |
| 8 |  | Nikolas Khamenia missed five of the eight shots he attempted in Saturday's 82-81 loss to Texas Tech. The Blue Devils' next game is Dec. 31 against Georgia Tech. | -- | 11-1 |
| 9 |  | Coen Carr finished with 22 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 79-70 win over Oakland. The Spartans' next game is Monday against Cornell. | -- | 11-1 |
| 10 |  | Caleb Wilson finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds in Monday's 99-51 win over East Carolina. The Tar Heels' next game is Tuesday against Florida State. | -- | 12-1 |
| 11 |  | Flory Bidunga finished with 18 points and eight rebounds in Monday's 90-61 win over Davidson. The Jayhawks' next game is Jan. 3 at UCF. | -- | 10-3 |
| 12 |  | Kingston Flemings finished with 21 points and five assists in Saturday's 94-85 win over Arkansas. The Cougars' next game is Monday against Middle Tennessee. | -- | 11-1 |
| 13 |  | Braden Frager finished with 17 points and four rebounds in Sunday's 78-55 win over North Dakota. The Cornhuskers' next game is Tuesday against New Hampshire. | -- | 12-0 |
| 14 |  | Tyler Nickel finished with 26 points and three blocks in Sunday's 98-67 win at Wake Forest. The Commodores' next game is Monday against New Haven. | -- | 12-0 |
| 15 |  | Aiden Sherrell finished with 21 points and seven rebounds in Sunday's 92-81 win over Kennesaw State. The Crimson Tide's next game is Monday against Yale. | -- | 9-3 |
| 16 |  | Karter Knox missed five of the six shots he attempted in Saturday's 94-85 win over Arkansas. The Razorbacks' next game is Monday against James Madison. | -- | 9-3 |
| 17 |  | Keaton Wagler finished with 22 points and eight rebounds in Monday's 91-48 win over Missouri. The Illini's next game is Monday against Southern. | -- | 9-3 |
| 18 |  | Christian Anderson finished with 27 points and five assists in Saturday's 82-81 win over Duke. The Red Raiders' next game is Sunday against Winthrop. | -- | 9-3 |
| 19 |  | Ja'Kobi Gillespie finished with 15 points and nine assists in Sunday's 94-52 win over Gardner-Webb. The Vols' next game is Tuesday against South Carolina State. | -- | 9-3 |
| 20 |  | Sananda Fru finished with 18 points and eight rebounds in Saturday's 94-54 win over Montana. The Cardinals' next game is Tuesday against Cal. | -- | 10-2 |
| 21 |  | Kam Williams finished with 26 points and one steal in Tuesday's 99-85 win over Bellarmine. The Wildcats' next game is Jan. 3 at Alabama. Kam Williams finished with 26 points and one steal in Tuesday's 99-85 win over Bellarmine. The Wildcats' next game is Jan. 3 at Alabama. | -- | 9-4 |
| 22 |  | Alvaro Folgueiras finished with 17 points and three rebounds in Saturday's 94-39 win over Bucknell. The Hawkeyes' next game is Monday against UMass Lowell. | -- | 10-2 |
| 23 |  | Thijs De Ridder finished with 27 points and eight rebounds in Monday's 95-51 win over American. The Cavaliers' next game is Dec. 31 at Virginia Tech. | -- | 11-1 |
| 24 |  | Marquel Sutton finished with 19 points and nine rebounds in Friday's 78-65 win over Southeastern Louisiana. The Tigers' next game is Monday against Prairie View A&M. | -- | 11-1 |
| 25 |  | Kevin Overton missed 10 of the 18 shots he attempted in Saturday's 88-60 loss to Purdue. The Tigers' next game is Monday against Queens. | -- | 8-4 |
| 26 |  | Zuby Ejiofor finished with 14 points and nine rebounds in Tuesday's 85-59 win over Harvard. The Red Storm's next game is Dec. 31 at Georgetown. | -- | 8-4 |
