Kentucky basketball was back at full strength for Mark Pope’s first true road game
Kentucky men’s basketball was back at full strength for the first true road game of the Mark Pope coaching era.
Sophomore big man Brandon Garrison played for the Wildcats on Tuesday night in UK’s 70-66 upset loss at Clemson in the SEC/ACC Challenge.
Garrison played 12 minutes in the contest, logging 2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 fouls and 2 turnovers in the game. Kentucky lost the minutes that Garrison played by 20 points, the second-worst margin on the team. Kerr Kriisa was a minus 21 in his 21 minutes played.
Garrison was the first injury-related absence of the 2024-25 UK season when he didn’t suit up for the Cats on Friday night for what became a feisty 105-76 home win over Georgia State.
Pope described the reason for Garrison’s absence against Georgia State as “a little bit of soreness,” something that wasn’t expected to sideline the former McDonald’s All-American and Oklahoma State player for too long.
This held true. Pregame, Pope said Garrison went through a light workout Sunday night and was a full go for the game against the Tigers.
“BG (Brandon Garrison) is just coming back from an injury,” Pope said postgame after Kentucky lost. “We’re trying to keep him in really short, limited runs, trying to keep him as fresh as we could. Tough matchups for him.”
Entering Tuesday’s game, Garrison was averaging 6.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.2 blocks and 1.2 steals in 16.8 minutes per game for the Wildcats. He’s come off the bench in all seven games he’s played for Kentucky.
What does Garrison offer the Wildcats on the floor?
“His energy is off the charts. Every time he comes in he’s running the floor, blocking shots,” graduate student center Amari Williams said of Garrison. “Just having that. We kind of missed it last game, but we’re glad that he’s going to be back for the next few, hopefully.”
Following Tuesday night’s SEC/ACC Challenge disappointment at Clemson — a team that reached the Elite Eight in the 2024 NCAA Tournament and is again projected as a tournament team this season — Kentucky will face No. 7 Gonzaga on Saturday night in Seattle.
This story was originally published December 3, 2024 at 9:17 PM.
