Jaland Lowe prepares for ‘massive jump’ at Kentucky: “He’s been special for us.”

Lamont Butler left big shoes to fill at the point guard position for Mark Pope — a perfect year-one leader with winning in his DNA to get the new era in Lexington off on the right foot. His replacement? All-ACC standout Jaland Lowe, coming over to Kentucky after two seasons at Pittsburgh.

The 6-3 playmaker’s counting stats were terrific, averaging a team-high 16.8 points to go with 5.5 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 steals per contest as a sophomore. He scored 20-plus on 10 occasions while finishing in double figures in 26 games with five double-doubles. On the flip side, his efficiency left much to be desired, shooting just 37.6 percent from the field and 26.6 percent from three in 31 outings while also turning it over 3.0 times per contest.

The ability is obviously there, but can he clean up the bad with more talent around him? That was the big question entering eight weeks of summer practice for the Wildcats.

Pope’s post-summer autopsy on Lowe leading the charge as PG1? Things couldn’t have gone better, especially with his emergence as a leader. He’s making difficult conversations with his teammates look easy, and that’s half the challenge — the other on-court stuff will take care of itself.

“He’s a lightning-quick, get wherever he wants on the court, leader — vocal leader,” Pope told Matt Norlander of CBS Sports. “He actually has the beautiful skill of not being overly concerned with whether other people like him in any given moment. That’s actually a really important skill as a leader. Sometimes you gotta be a truth teller. Sometimes you gotta hold people accountable, and for those of us that are born pleasers, sometimes that can be really challenging. He’s not.

“There’s no fear in him to be like, ‘Nah, this is how it is.’ If you like it or don’t like it, it doesn’t matter. It’s just the truth. He stepped up as a great leader for us.”

As for his talent, you can already see the speed and playmaking shine on film. That’s only improved with better players surrounding him on the floor. The real positive, though, comes from Lowe’s shooting, surpassing even his freshman efficiency at Pittsburgh where he knocked down 35.2 percent of his attempts from deep.

In live reps, he’s clearing the 40-percent mark — and then some.

“He’s an elite-level playmaker on ball screens — I mean, he can fling the ball everywhere on the court, make every pass,” Pope continued. “He was our leading three-point field goal percentage shooter in five-on-five competition this summer — just right under 42 percent. We’re incredibly excited about what we believe he’s going to do in terms of efficiency this summer.”

Those are maybe the two greatest questions answered when it comes to Lowe. Can he be the guy at Kentucky? Will he be able to knock down shots in Pope’s player-friendly system? Check. Check.

If he can keep those things up once the team returns for the fall semester and the real stuff begins in September, the sky is the limit for Lowe as a Wildcat. That’s the expectation for his head coach.

“We think he’s going to take a massive jump,” Pope said. “He’s been special for us.”