Brandon Garrison and Mo Dioubate changed the game for UK in NCAA Tournament win
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- UK basketball secured a first-round NCAA Tournament win over Santa Clara in St. Louis.
- The Wildcats defeated the Broncos in overtime, 89-84.
- Backup big men Mo Dioubate and Brandon Garrison provided clutch play for UK off the bench.
When it was all over — 7-seed Kentucky’s dramatic overtime win over 10-seed Santa Clara in the first round of the NCAA Tournament secured — Brandon Garrison strapped on a headset and was surrounded by his teammates.
Garrison’s postgame radio appearance on the floor of the Enterprise Center in St. Louis was well deserved.
No, he didn’t tally 35 points like Otega Oweh did. Nor did Garrison bank-in a 3-pointer at the end of regulation to force overtime and give UK the opportunity to extend its season.
But Garrison was nonetheless instrumental in the most thrilling of postseason victories.
The 6-foot-10 junior forward had 10 points, seven rebounds and six blocks in a highly-effective 25 minutes off the bench.
“When BG plays good, we win,” UK coach Mark Pope said. “If you think about bellwethers on our team, when he plays good we win. BG, he just keeps showing up every single day and fighting and fighting and fighting. He was brilliant today.”
Garrison wasn’t the only reserve who gave the Cats a major spark on Friday. Fellow junior forward Mo Dioubate provided 17 points, eight rebounds and three blocks of his own.
Beyond that raw production, Dioubate and Garrison allowed Kentucky to institute a switching defense that was instrumental to the win.
“Just having guys like that at the forward and 5 spot definitely gives us better defensive schemes we can use against teams,” sophomore wing Kam Williams said. “Most bigs are not able to switch, they might have slow feet or something like that. But we have agile bigs, so it definitely makes our job easier as guards.”
Dioubate — who played the past month for UK while also observing Ramadan and fasting daily from sunset to sundown — grabbed all eight of his rebounds on the defensive glass.
“I had a solid performance tonight. I was efficient from the field. My defensive presence was there,” said Dioubate, who contributed six points, two rebounds and an assist in overtime. “I’m going to stay humble. But I did the little things for my team to win: hustling, blocking, rebounding. Just trying to be the glue guy.”
Postgame, there was rampant talk in Kentucky’s jubilant locker room about the value that both players provide.
“We know that he is the best switch big in the country, in my opinion at least,” Williams said of Garrison. “... If he plays like that, I really don’t see anybody beating us.”
“We trust them a lot,” sophomore guard Collin Chandler said. “Having someone like that, it just helps me when what they’re doing is working, because we can switch it up. I think some teams struggle with that ... because they don’t have bigs that can guard the perimeter. But having one who can is great.”
It takes a ball-knower’s eye to truly appreciate what Dioubate and Garrison provide for UK.
Garrison’s three best games of the season have come in recent weeks. He’s had big-time efforts against Oklahoma in the regular season, LSU in the SEC Tournament and now Santa Clara in the national postseason.
Dioubate specifically said Kentucky’s defensive ball-screen coverage adjustment in the second half — when the Cats allowed Garrison to begin switching onto guards — helped UK secure the win.
“What he did switching 1 through 5 down the stretch was unbelievable,” Pope said of Garrison. “His discipline, his stance, his mobility, his ability to contest shots legal was brilliant. So it is an unbelievable performance by BG, super happy for him.”
Garrison admitted postgame that UK’s drop coverage wasn’t working against Santa Clara. He also said he doesn’t like to play drop coverage.
“I feel like it’s just lazy defense,” Garrison said. “I’m just back there, in la-la land I say. But whatever coach calls, I’m going to do it. But if I feel like while I’m out there playing, seeing the game and feeling that if it’s a better option, I’m going to relay the message to him.”
Dioubate’s physical brand of basketball hasn’t always translated for Kentucky this season, but he’s been integral to UK’s success down the stretch. Dioubate has scored in double figures in five of UK’s past eight contests. He’s also knocked down three of his past five shots from 3-point range.
Still, it’s Dioubate and Garrison’s athleticism, an unquantifiable metric, that differentiates them. And UK players have had a front-row seat to this all season long in practice at the Joe Craft Center.
“BG and Mo do a great job at switching and being able to guard almost anybody,” said junior forward Reece Potter, who’s redshirting this season but goes against the duo daily in practice. “That was something we looked at going into (the Santa Clara game). They have a lot of five-out action. So when we were able to go to BG and Mo down the stretch, they were able to do what they do best and switch and defend and stuff like that.”
“We’re good at moving our feet,” Dioubate said. “We’ve got length, size, physicality. Every team needs players like that. Fortunately, we have multiple players that can do that.”
Kentucky’s season, in part, has been defined by a lack of player availability.
Junior guard Jaland Lowe only played in nine games. Sophomore forward Jayden Quaintance has only suited up for four.
Kentucky’s bench was effectively only three players deep on Friday, with freshman guard Jasper Johnson playing just two minutes and sophomore forward Trent Noah not playing at all.
But two of those bench contributors — Dioubate and Garrison — were two of the biggest reasons UK’s season is still alive.
“I thought Mo and BG were unbelievable, out of timeouts, actually running draw-ups,” Pope said, “They executed some new things really, really brilliantly.”
