Brandon Garrison led Kentucky in assist-to-turnover ratio during summer practices

Brandon Garrison is one of Mark Pope‘s few returning pieces in 2025-26, but he flew under the radar during summer practices as fan focus understandably shifted toward the talented newcomers.

With potential NBA lottery pick big man Jayden Quaintance recovering from his ACL tear, stretch forward Andrija Jelavić still making his way over to the United States, and seven-foot freshman Malachi Moreno impressing behind the scenes, Garrison hasn’t received the offseason mentions he probably deserves. It’s easy to forget that he appeared in 35 games last season as Amari Williams‘ backup, averaging 5.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 17.3 minutes per game. There is a world — and it’s probably the one we live in — where Garrison is starting at center to open the 2025-26 season while Quaintance finishes his rehab.

And Pope is excited to see what the 6-foot-10 rising junior can do in year two under his guidance, both on the floor and as a veteran voice.

“It’s been fun to watch (Garrison) grow as a leader,” Pope told Matt Norlander this week on CBS Sports’ Summer Shootaround. “Towards the end of last season, for the first time in the last month of the season, we started to hear him say something from time to time. And he’s carried that into the summer. I thought his work ethic continued to grow throughout the course of the summer, especially the last three or four weeks. He really dialed in and understands that the next step doesn’t come naturally. You gotta go take it. So it’s been fun to watch him grow that way.”

Pope has mentioned several times during the offseason how his second-year players tend to make significant leaps in their development. That’s exactly what he expects out of Garrison. Pope has seen it happen first-hand during summer practice, particularly with his defensive versatility and playmaking skills.

“He does give us this incredible opportunity to switch 1 through 5 because he’s such an elite-level switch defender on ball screens and away from the ball. We expect him to have a big season,” Pope added. “And it’s his second year. Fun stat for him, he was our leading assist-turnover guy on the entire team this summer in the eight weeks, right at a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. It’s been fun to see him grow that way in terms of his ball security from where he came in last summer. It’s been really incredible.”

Garrison has steadily improved his passing abilities as a college player, an especially important trait for a big man in Pope’s system. He went from posting a 0.89 assist-turnover ratio as a freshman at Oklahoma State to clocking in at 1.59 as a sophomore at UK. If Garrison can reach the 2.0 mark as a junior like he did this summer, his ceiling — and the team’s — will only go up.

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