Jayden Quaintance will miss Kentucky’s game against Mississippi State on Saturday night due to swelling in his knee, according to UK men’s basketball coach Mark Pope.
Quaintance was ruled out for the game Friday night, but there was no official word on his status from anyone affiliated with the Wildcats’ program until Pope’s pregame radio interview with Tom Leach shortly before the 8:30 p.m. ET tipoff.
“He’s just had a little bit of swelling, so we’re just kind of monitoring it,” Pope said. “And the most important thing is just his health. So, it’s going to be a little start and stop as we go. That’s just the process.”
Pope did not have a timetable for Quaintance’s return to the Kentucky lineup.
A projected lottery pick in the 2026 NBA draft, Quaintance made his UK debut Dec. 20 against St. John’s and had played in each of the Wildcats’ past three games since then. Before that, he had been sidelined for 10 months after suffering a torn ACL during his freshman season at Arizona State in February.
Quaintance was a surprise inclusion on the preliminary availability report Kentucky sent to the SEC on Friday night. He was listed as “out” for the Mississippi State game, which was unexpected since he was not included on the mandatory report for UK’s first two SEC games.
Pope was also asked directly about Quaintance’s progression during his weekly press conference Friday afternoon, and he made no mention of a possible setback during his reply.
The UK coach expressed confidence that Quaintance would emerge as more of an offensive threat for the Wildcats as he continued to get comfortable on the court.
“But, right now, before we dig in on exploring all the different ways we can buy unique possessions for JQ, I want him to actually have just a couple reps to actually just feel us,” Pope said Friday. “And what makes that more complicated is we’re trying to understand us, as a whole right now, too. He’s not walking into a finished product, where we’re just trying to slide him in. We’re evolving also.”
Quaintance had an electric debut in UK’s 78-66 victory over St. John’s last month, tallying 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots in 17 minutes off the bench. He played most of the second half and was a key player in what has been Kentucky’s best win so far this season.
He played sparingly in the Cats’ 99-85 win over Bellarmine three days later as Pope tried to ease him back into game action. After UK got nearly two weeks off over the holidays, Quaintance returned to play a season-high 24 minutes in the Wildcats’ loss to Alabama last weekend. He had five points and six rebounds in that game.
And then Pope inserted him into UK’s starting lineup for the first time Wednesday night against Missouri, but Quaintance had just one point and four rebounds in 18 minutes, and the Tigers upset the Wildcats 73-68 to drop Pope’s team to 9-6 on the season and 0-2 in the SEC.
Mizzou’s physical play with Quaintance in the post ultimately led to Pope getting called for his first technical foul as Kentucky’s coach — in his 51st game in the role — during the first half of Wednesday night’s loss.
Since his debut in the St. John’s game, Quaintance has averaged just 3.3 points and 4.0 rebounds, with only one blocked shot, six turnovers and two assists across three games. The 6-foot-10 forward also has just seven field-goal attempts in 49 minutes in those three games. He’s 4 for 13 on free throws so far this season.
Kentucky’s next game will be at LSU on Wednesday night.
Kentucky forward Jayden Quaintance walks to the locker room following a loss to Alabama during a game at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. Ryan C. Hermens [email protected]
Ben Roberts
Lexington Herald-Leader
Ben Roberts is the University of Kentucky men’s basketball beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He has previously specialized in UK basketball recruiting coverage and created and maintained the Next Cats blog. He is a Franklin County native and first joined the Herald-Leader in 2006.
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