It’s official, Mark Pope and Kentucky men’s basketball earned its second commitment from the transfer portal for the 2025 cycle with Pittsburgh point guard Jaland Lowe.
Lowe posted his commitment on Instagram with the caption, “Excited and grateful for this opportunity BBN! Let’s goooo!”
Lowe’s commitment came just days after Georgia point guard Silas Demary Jr., which Kentucky conducted a home visit with, committed to UConn over the Cats and weeks after Donovan Dent chose his home state of California (UCLA) over a move to Lexington.
The former Panther will seemingly carry the expectation of being UK’s starting point guard, replacing San Diego State transfer Lamont Butler, who, with an injured shoulder and leg, led UK to its first Sweet Sixteen since the turn of the decade.
At Pittsburgh, Lowe averaged 16.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 5.5 assists per night with the Panthers, despite a rougher 37.6% from the field.
He entered the transfer portal with a “do not contact” tag — meaning either that the player has an idea where they’re going or they simply wish for all contact to go through their agent — and UK was quickly involved. He is a 6-foot-3 sophomore from Texas.
Reactions around the UK fanbase were mixed on Lowe, and continue to be, but Pope and his staff remain confident they’ve found their guy to follow in Butler’s footsteps in leading this new era of college basketball.
One important thing to note, especially regarding his shooting percentage, is that Lowe has never been on a team truly surrounded by talent before. The 2024-25 Pittsburgh Panthers, despite still being on the NCAA Tournament bubble into the second half of the season, played in an extremely poor ACC with a roster that forced Lowe to be a primary scorer, a role isn’t meant to be.
In spite of that, he still put together four double-doubles, a triple-double and scored in double figures in 26 of Pitt’s 31 games. He is also a very reliable free-throw shooter, with points from the charity stripe being something Kentucky struggled with much of last season.
Lowe is a strong passer with good size for the position and, perhaps most enticingly, has multiple years of college eligibility remaining, something that could be valuable as Pope looks to find consistency year to year.
All in all, it’s tough to say for sure how the 2025-26 Cats will look until the roster is completed as UK still seems to be seeking a handful of transfers, but the additions of Kam Williams and Lowe could be massive pieces for the squad.
