Losses keep stacking up for Kentucky and Mark Pope in the NCAA. Recently, the Wildcats let an eight-point lead slip away over the final four and a half minutes in a 73–68 home loss to Missouri on Wednesday. So, for a moment, it felt like the presence of Jayden Quaintance could be a silver lining. And why not? Having a future NBA lottery pick sitting on the bench looked like untapped gold!

But that promise hasn’t turned into results yet.

Kentucky opened the 2026 season on the road at Alabama in Tuscaloosa, then came back home to face Missouri. And in both games, Quaintance didn’t just struggle, but posted one of the worst +/- on the team in back-to-back outings. As a result, frustration is starting to shift. But instead of focusing solely on Quaintance’s growing pains, fans are now questioning how head coach Mark Pope is managing the talent he has on hand.

“Kentucky’s Jayden Quaintance is OUT for tomorrow’s game against Mississippi State, per the SEC student-athlete availability report,” ESPN’s Jeff Borzello shared via X.

So, another miss for Jayden Quaintance. Reportedly, Kentucky will be back in action tomorrow as the Wildcats host Mississippi State. And sitting at 0–2 to start conference play, Mark Pope is clearly searching for answers, especially with a Bulldogs team coming in at 2–0 in the league and playing with confidence.

Remember when Quaintance first returned against St. John’s and made an immediate splash? But since then, Pope seems to have gone in a different direction. It has been just weeks since that season debut, and the questions are starting to pile up!

So what’s really going on?

Fans are debating whether his recent struggles are simply part of shaking off the rust or if there’s something more, like lingering injury concerns. Since that exciting debut, Quaintance is averaging just 3.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. He’s recorded only one block, turned the ball over six times, and handed out just two assists.

So, those numbers help explain why he’s missing time, but they don’t quite answer the bigger question: Is this really how a future lottery pick should be handled?

What makes it more confusing is that Pope doesn’t see it as a struggle at all. “I wouldn’t even call JQ struggling,” he said. “He hasn’t played basketball in 10 months, he’s coming off a major injury, and the fact that he’s out there for 17 minutes playing that physically is tremendous.”

Now, that only leaves fans scratching their heads even more. If the coach believes that, then why is Quaintance still getting dropped from the rotation?

Confusion, Doubt & Anger spread as Kentucky struggles

Is Mark Pope letting Quaintance sit out to check out his draft stock? Fans wonder. “He is out because your coach is killing his draft stock,” one fan said. Reportedly, in place of Quaintance, Pope has options like Brandon Garrison, Malachi Moreno, and Mouhamed Dioubate. Among these, Garrison is a junior big man, and Moreno is a freshman center. However, even if Pope is checking out on his stock, sitting someone like Quaintance surely looks like a risky affair.

For others, this is the best example of mismanagement by Mark Pope. “Why should he play? For a coach who mismanages minutes and sits him on the bench with 4 minutes left in the game. I would say this is the beginning of the end, but that’s already started,” one user commented. “I’m done with the men’s basketball program until Pope and Barnhart, for that matter, are gone. The last 5 years have been exhausting, and it’s just not worth it anymore,” another added.

Well, Kentucky’s 2025–26 season hasn’t gone the way anyone hoped. Right now, this looks like a roster that just doesn’t align with Mark Pope’s system. Why? Because there’s no reliable shooting to lean on, no real spacing to open things up, even though Pope continues to believe this group can eventually become a solid shooting team and that it’ll show up in games. “I don’t know what I am doing,” one fan took a sarcastic dig at Pope.

Things really came to a head during Kentucky’s loss at Alabama. Pope admitted there was a lot of “internal frustration” on display, and it showed. Players were arguing on the court, emotions were running high, and the tension boiled over enough that Otega Oweh had to step in and calm everyone down. All of it just adds to the sense that things aren’t exactly trending in the right direction for Pope and the Wildcats right now.

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So, what’s next? One fan thinks, “And that will be the last you see of him in a Kentucky uniform this season.” Well, it’s still too early to comment on which way Quaintance would go from this point. However, losing someone like him would surely place Pope again on the receiving end of more fan criticism.