Brandon Garrison is finding his groove at a crucial time for UK basketball
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- Kentucky basketball forward Brandon Garrison had a career night in home win over Oklahoma.
- Garrison totaled 20 points, 11 rebounds and 3 assists for the Wildcats.
- This was Garrison’s first double-double as a UK player, and the second of his career.
What has been a much-maligned junior season for Kentucky basketball forward Brandon Garrison could be turning a corner.
That’s if Garrison can maintain anything close to his level of performance from UK’s 94-78 win over Oklahoma on Wednesday at Rupp Arena.
Garrison had likely the best game of his college career in that one: 20 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and just one turnover in 29 highly effective minutes against the Sooners.
“Really proud of BG stepping up and being great,” UK head coach Mark Pope said postgame.
That scoring output was just one point shy of Garrison’s career high, which came when he was a freshman at Oklahoma State during the 2023-24 season — and in a contest against Pope’s final BYU team.
Garrison’s work on the glass matched his career best in that department. Combined, this made for Garrison’s first double-double in his two seasons as a Kentucky player and just the second of his college career.
“He’s a young professional in terms of coming to work every day and doing his job,” said UK assistant coach Jason Hart, who took questions from reporters during the postgame press conference.
“When you do that, the basketball gods will bless you. Tonight, he was in the right spots, played with a lot of energy. That’s what happens when you just continue to work. Every game won’t be like that for him, but as long as his effort is there, we’re happy with that.”
Garrison’s gaudy performance Wednesday represents the high point of what’s been an up-and-down season so far for the Oklahoma City native.
“Just talking to my agent, mom and stuff. They’re always keeping me in good spirits,” Garrison said. “Everybody has their days, but you can’t let the days affect (you) for a long time, and life period.”
In the 10 games prior to the Oklahoma contest, Garrison combined for 19 points. Garrison also hadn’t registered more than five rebounds in a game since he tallied 11 boards Nov. 21 against Loyola (Maryland).
“Just crashing the glass, trying to get to the ball, not accepting blockouts and stuff,” Garrison said of his rebounding success.
While the performance didn’t come completely out of left field — Garrison played a physical 13 minutes in last Saturday’s win at Arkansas — it represents a seismic change in production from Garrison, who was joined for postgame media in the underbelly of Rupp Arena by his son, Akarii.
“It’s very important, because I’m doing it for somebody else other than me now. He’s learning stuff now, knowing who I am on the court,” Garrison said as Akarii roamed around the Rupp Arena backstage setup. “It’s a good feeling going to him after the game.”
Ask around, and those associated with the UK program will say this performance against his home-state school was a deserved reward for the consistent practice effort Garrison has shown inside the Joe Craft Center.
“BG is always giving his best,” sophomore forward Andrija Jelavic said. “It’s not a matter of will he hit shots or not, it’s just a matter of will he be in an opportunity to hit shots? And today he was in an opportunity to hit many shots. He was offensive rebounding. He was rolling... That’s what we need him to do.”
“BG has been playing great basketball lately,” sophomore guard Collin Chandler said. “I think the coaches have been challenging him, and I think he stepped up to the challenge great tonight.”
Sticking with the process has been a major reason for Garrison’s growth in his second UK season.
Garrison is one of five Kentucky players to appear in all 23 games for the Wildcats this season, but his playing time has fluctuated wildly.
Garrison’s 29 minutes against Oklahoma marked the most he’s played in a game at Kentucky. Garrison played the final 17:26 of the game, and effectively sealed the end result when he converted an and-one layup with 2:41 to go and UK up by eight points.
Garrison’s gritty work on the glass also provided a major lift for the Wildcats, who outrebounded the Sooners 41-25.
“They went to Brandon a lot on defense because they were switching, and he’s able to move his feet and switch,” Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser said. “I think that’s why he got 29 minutes, I think it was his defense. And then he hurt us on the glass. His physical presence on the rebounding was a big factor.”
Garrison wears his heart on his sleeve when on the court. He’s picked up six technical fouls in his college career, four at UK and one in each of the past two games.
If there’s a scuffle on or around the court during a Kentucky game, there’s a good chance Garrison is in the vicinity.
These moments highlight the line that Garrison walks with his demeanor. Sometimes it can be galvanizing for he and his teammates. Other times, Garrison plays the role of an unnecessary antagonist, such as when he picked up a technical foul with one second to go in the Oklahoma game as part of a coming together with Sooners’ guard Xzayvier Brown after Garrison opted to dunk the ball instead of dribbling out the clock.
But Hart said it plainly postgame: Kentucky needs Garrison to be all of himself. It’s a key ingredient to the turnaround story the Wildcats are trying to author in this 2025-26 season, and it’s key to Garrison unlocking the best version of himself as a basketball player.
Wednesday was a prime example of it all.
“Nothing. Keep doing that. We need that,” Hart said when asked about the balancing act of keeping Garrison’s emotions in check. “... We need (Garrison) to go back to being who he is. Getting physical with players. We feed off that, especially as coaches. We’re not encouraging him to do anything dirty, but we need his physical play, and we need him to be that, and I applaud it.”
