Kentucky basketball teammates overjoyed at Brennan Canada’s new status. ‘He deserves it.’
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Game day: Kentucky 74, LSU 71
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Between Kentucky’s victories over Louisville on Saturday and Louisiana State on Tuesday, there was some big news for one Wildcat off the basketball court.
UK Coach John Calipari announced Monday evening that walk-on Brennan Canada had received a scholarship to play for the Cats.
Canada — a 6-foot-5, 205-pound player in his fourth season at Kentucky — first joined the program before the 2019-20 campaign and, though his playing time has not been ample, has emerged as an important part of the UK team behind the scenes.
With a rare blend of skill and height for his walk-on role, Canada has been a go-to guy for Calipari in Kentucky’s practices, where he plays multiple positions and can give the Cats different looks on both sides of the ball, especially in those cases when illness or injury keeps some of the team’s regulars from scrimmaging.
“Here’s a young man that’s played every position,” Calipari said Monday on his weekly radio show. “He is an unbelievable teammate. He is a good player. He’s just behind some other really good players. But he is good. Can shoot it, is tough, is smart. And when I went to a team meeting and I called him up and I said, ‘You’re getting a scholarship …’ — the team went nuts.
“Everybody was just hootin’ and hollerin’ and screamin’. And he was happy and thankful.”
Calipari noted that the scholarship would be retroactive, so it’ll cover Canada’s education expenses from the fall semester, as well as summer classes.
Canada has already graduated from UK with a degree in communications, and he’s currently working on a master’s degree. He’s been a regular on the Southeastern Conference academic honor roll during his time with the Cats, and he was inducted last season into the Frank G. Ham Society of Character, which honors UK student-athletes who show a “profound commitment” to academic excellence, athletic participation, personal development, community service, and career preparation.
“I was really excited, thankful,” Canada said Monday of the scholarship news. “I was kind of speechless at first. It was great. The team was celebrating and stuff. So it was a good moment.”
Canada was a star player and 1,000-point scorer at George Rogers Clark High School, and he had some Division II and NAIA offers late in his high school career. He’d also taken unofficial visits to several nearby D-I schools — including Marshall, Northern Kentucky and Western Kentucky — but he wasn’t sure what his next step would be.
Late in his senior year, then-UK assistant coach Joel Justus approached him with the possibility of walking on for the Wildcats, who had already signed his close friend and former AAU teammate, Dontaie Allen, as part of their 2019 recruiting class.
Canada, a lifelong Kentucky fan from a family filled with BBN backers, jumped at the offer.
“It’s always been a dream,” Canada told the Herald-Leader at the time. “You never really think you’re going to have the opportunity to play at Kentucky, but it’s every kid’s dream that grows up in Kentucky. So, whenever it got mentioned to me, I was like, ‘This is what I really want to do.’ I really didn’t want to pass it up. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”
Nearly four years after those comments, Canada is a scholarship player at Kentucky.
His teammates couldn’t be more pleased.
Fellow senior Jacob Toppin, who is in his third season as Canada’s teammate, was asked plenty about his own 21-point performance after the 74-71 win over LSU, but he saved a bigger smile for a question about Canada’s big news.
“He deserves it,” Toppin said. “He does a lot for us that you guys don’t see. He’s a great person off the court, and a great teammate. So I’m proud of him, and I’m happy for him.”
UK point guard Sahvir Wheeler also had a wide grin while talking about Canada receiving the scholarship earlier in the week, making reference to the former walk-on’s perennial status as the player with the best shoe game on Kentucky’s team.
“That was big time, man. If you know Brennan and how he is as a person — he’s amazing,” Wheeler said. “He’s awesome. He’s a great person to be around. He’s funny. He’s cool. He’s flashy — all the kicks. Swagged up. So for him to have that (scholarship) — man, I was super happy for him. He deserves it. I don’t know anyone who’s more deserving.”
Reigning national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe spoke of Canada’s work ethic and willingness to do anything to help the Wildcats during practice.
“We were all jumping up and down, saying, ‘We love Brennan,’” Tshiebwe said of the scene when the scholarship was revealed. “I said, ‘Brennan — now you’re a scholarship boy. You gotta be ready, man. You’re gonna get in the game, bro. We’re gonna need you.’ It was good for him.”
Calipari, who singled out Canada for his importance to the team during UK’s media day in the fall — a rare shoutout for a walk-on — noted Monday that he’s put such players on scholarship in the past, if they’ve shown over time that they’ve earned it.
“And he’s earned it,” the UK coach said.
This story was originally published January 4, 2023 at 7:00 AM.
