'He Takes Our Team to a Different Level': Brandon Garrison's 10-Point, 6 Block Performance Lifts Kentucky

Brandon Garrison, have yourself a game. The junior center finished with 10 points, seven rebounds, and six blocks in Kentucky’s first round win over Santa Clara on Friday.

The statline doesn’t show everything, however. Garrison came up clutch with some massive blocks in overtime, and a dunk that gave Kentucky an 83-79 lead with under a minute left in overtime. Garrison was everywhere on Friday and his coach and teammates took notice.

“If you think about bellwethers on our team, when he plays good we win,” Kentucky coach Mark Pope said postgame. “BG, he just keeps showing up every single day and fighting and fighting and fighting. He was brilliant today. He was brilliant offensively today. He came off the short roll. I thought Mo and BG were unbelievable, out of timeouts, actually running draw-ups. They executed some new things really, really brilliantly.”

Pope said he “always felt like BG was probably the best switching five man in the country.” He made a great case for that on Friday.

“I mean, really, how many times have we talked about that? And tonight he got a chance to prove it,” Pope said. “His discipline, his stance, his mobility, his ability to contest shots legal was brilliant. So it was an unbelievable performance by BG.”

Brandon Garrison’s Teammates Give Credit

It wasn’t just Brandon Garrison’s coach that was impressed with his performance. His teammates saw it as a long time coming.

“All year long BG has been going through adversity from the beginning of the season, and it was times where he felt down on himself, he wasn’t as confident in himself because of the media and the fans,” Kentucky forward Mo Dioubate said. “But we knew all along the kind of player he was, and we always believed in him, and the way he played tonight, we’re not really surprised because we know what he’s capable of doing. And he showed up when we need him and that’s the most important thing.”

Otega Oweh had an iconic March Madness peformance with a career-high 35 points to go along with eight rebounds and seven assists in 43 minutes played, and a game-tying shot at the end of regulation. Even he was impressed by what Garrison was able to do.

“Coach Pope said it: When he’s playing good when he’s locked in has a high motor, he takes our team to a different level,” Oweh said. “And I tell BG every game just go out there and have the highest motor. Go block shots. He has six blocks. That’s crazy. His game changes when he’s locked in that mode and he really takes our team to a different level.”