Brooks: More players contributing makes UK ‘impossible to defend’
Kentucky was ranked and seen as a progressing team going into Tuesday night’s game against Georgia. After an 89-79 victory, a sense of UK being on the way to making a purposeful move toward elite status was in the air.
Freshman Keion Brooks, one of a trio of players whose development has been seen as the means to making Kentucky elite, contributed eight points and five rebounds to the victory.
Another of these players, EJ Montgomery, scored 10 points. That marked his first double-digit points total since Dec. 7.
Triumphs to come danced in Brooks’ mind.
With five or more players excelling, “we basically become an impossible team to defend,” he said.
Brooks suggested a personal turning point came in Kentucky’s memorable victory at Arkansas three days earlier. UK Coach John Calipari had been ejected. Point guard Ashton Hagans had four fouls. Foul trouble also hindered Montgomery’s productivity.
With a sellout crowd roaring encouragement to Arkansas, associate coach Kenny Payne turned to Brooks with a we-need-you-now declaration.
“‘I’m going to rock with you, no matter what’” was how Brooks phrased Payne’s words to him in this desperate hour. To which, Brooks found inspiration.
“You just want to go out and play hard for him,” Brooks said, “and for your teammates and help them get the ‘W.’”
When asked if Payne actually said he would “rock” with Brooks, the player smiled and offered a clarification.
“That’s a little bit of my interpretation of what he said,” Brooks said. “His exact words were, ‘Keion Brooks, you’re going to grow up today.’
“And I said, ‘All right, K.P.
“And he said, ‘I’m for real.’”
Calipari saw Brooks’ 17 minutes at Arkansas — his most since logging 25 against Louisville on Dec. 28 — as a confidence-booster.
But the UK coach added that Brooks got pushed around early against Georgia. Then Brooks settled in and again became part of Kentucky’s newly-minted “player-driven team.” UK improved to 14-4 overall and 5-1 in the Southeastern Conference.
Brooks defined the term player-driven as a team not needing to have the coach lead it by the hand.
“That just means we’re going to hold each other accountable,” he said. “Not always really on Cal to basically bail us out or save us. We’ve got to do it amongst ourselves.
“The better teams that travel far in the (NCAA) Tournament and have good success throughout March, they’re player-driven.”
Calipari suggested the victory over Georgia put such a team on display.
“Until the last four or five minutes, you know, I was letting it unfold,” he said. “It was player-driven today.”
Four UK players scored in double figures. Ashton Hagans led the way with 23 points, nine assists and four steals.
Brooks resisted the idea of being labeled as a player.
“I never thought of myself as being a guard or a ‘big,’” he said. “I’m a basketball player. I’m going to go out there and try to make plays that I know I can make to help our team win.
“If I was the third big man, then so be it. If I was the third guard, then so be it. I just go out there and make the right play every single time.”
The NBA players that Brooks admires include LeBron James, former UK star Anthony Davis and Paul George. Those players can be hard to label.
To explain his development, Brooks said, “I’ve been continuously watching film. And just seeing where I can find open spots and get rebounds. Defend. Hit the open man.
“I would say my level of physicality has picked up, and that’s really helped me a lot. Being able to hit my man.”
Brooks used his athleticism to thrill the Rupp Arena crowd with a high-flying dunk. He attributed his elevation to a land-locked launch. He also threw in a bit of charming self-deprecation.
“Just being low in a stance,” he said. If not in such a stance, “you’re always reacting instead of being proactive. I can probably catch people off guard being pigeon-toed. And I walk a little funny.
“Then I jump. ‘Oh,’ they go. ‘Oh yeah.’”
Next game
No. 15 Kentucky at No. 18 Texas Tech
6 p.m. Saturday in Big 12/SEC Challenge (ESPN)
This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 11:48 PM.
