Sporting News columnist Mike DeCourcy believes UK can still make the NCAA Tournament if coach Mark Pope can get reliable point guard play

Sporting News columnist Mike DeCourcy had no doubts Kentucky would be a NCAA Tournament team when the season started. After UK dropped its first four major non-conference games, including a 35-point loss to Gonzaga, he did have doubts before Kentucky bounced back to beat Indiana and St. John’s.

He knows Kentucky’s issue will be at point guard if something happens to Jaland Lowe like it has several times already when his right shoulder popped out of place.

“Denzel Aberdeen didn’t play a lot of point guard at Florida last year and didn’t come to Kentucky expecting to be a point guard,” the national college basketball analyst said. “For Denzel, playing point guard when needed is a real challenge and he has to embrace it. He had to adopt the mentality of running the offense when the team needs him.”

Lowe had 21 points but had to take 16 shots and had only two assists in UK’s 89-74 loss at Alabama to open SEC play. ESPN analyst Seth Greenberg said UK had no offensive identity.

“Losing Lowe is kind of like the Cincinnati Bengals losing (quarterback) Joe Burrow,” DeCourcy said. “It’s just a different deal without Burrow. When you lose your point guard who has the experience making plays for others and getting shots for himself, it’s a different deal. He understands the game.”

DeCourcy believes UK has to make sure it gives freshman Jasper Johnson in the “right role” when he’s on the floor. He played only six minutes at Alabama and did not take a shot.

“He is capable of making a difference for this team. He played in the U19 World Championships and Jasper hit the biggest shot of the entire tournament for Team USA against Canada,” DeCourcy said. “If they had lost that game, there would have been no gold medal or any medal. It was a huge shot with a lot of pressure and he delivered and played very well in that tournament.

“There is no doubt he can make this team better. You have got to look at him as somebody who you open on his better nights will be a double figure scorer. He will have tough nights. Everybody does, but he has a chance to make a big difference for this team if Mark  can figure out the best way to use him. He can be productive at point guard.”

DeCourcy knows the SEC is not as good overall this year and that means fewer “high end opportunities” for high profile wins this season.

“The SEC got 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament last year. I think it will be much less than 14 this year,” DeCourcy said. “Kentucky just has to play well and win a lot of games and to me it will still come down to point guard play.”