It was Brandon Garrison Time vs. Oklahoma (again): 'He's our emotional leader'

There’s just something about Oklahoma that brings out the best in Brandon Garrison and Otega Oweh. Last season, Garrison had 12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 blocks in Kentucky’s win in Norman. It was a homecoming for Oweh, a former Sooner, but also for Garrison, who was born in Oklahoma City, played for Oklahoma State his freshman season, and had several family members and friends in the stands, including his son, Akarii. Akarii joined his father at the podium for the postgame press conference, a moment that went viral as the baby stole the microphone and the spotlight, a coming-out party of sorts for Garrison as a father.

Fast forward a season, and Akarii and Garrison shared another special moment after a win over Oklahoma, this one at Rupp. As the buzzer sounded on the 94-78 win over the Sooners, Garrison’s mother, Toni, brought Akarii over to his father, who had just notched the first double-double of his career at Kentucky, with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 assists in 29 minutes. Garrison came up just one point shy of his career high of 21 points, which he scored when he was at Oklahoma State playing against Mark Pope and BYU in February 2024.

“I do [remember it] a little bit,” Garrison said of that game. “I was just out there playing my game, doing what I do, and just happened to have a good game vs. him and stuff. We still crack jokes about it because it was against some coaching staff that’s over here now.”

As Mikhail McLean told Tom Leach, it’s probably not a coincidence that Garrison played so well with his mom and son in the stands. Coming into tonight’s game vs. Oklahoma, Brandon Garrison was averaging just 2.1 points per game in SEC play. He showed signs of breaking that slump at Arkansas, but tonight, he was on another level in both energy and production, prompting fans to chant, “BG! BG! BG!” in the closing minute.

“He’s definitely carrying it on,” McLean said of Garrison’s performance in Fayetteville. “Like Coach Pope just said, we need the Brandon Garrison that when he switches, he claps and then he claps in people’s faces. He’s talking trash. Like that’s who BG is at his best.

“And I was just proud that he played really well with his son here. Every time Akarii and his mom are here, he always plays well, so we need BG and Akarii’s moms to both move down here.”

“It’s very important, just because I’m doing it for somebody else other than me now,” Garrison said of his son. “He’s learning stuff and knowing who I am, of course. It’s a good feeling just going up to him after the game.”

Akarii, now two-and-a-half, stayed in his father’s arms as Garrison did the official postgame radio show with Goose Givens, recreating the scene from a year ago in Norman.

We’ve got a special guest on Wildcat Wrap-Up @brandonGarriso https://t.co/Dv6lIglJhC pic.twitter.com/vlsVlVOgYN

— UK Sports Network (@UKSportsNetwork) February 5, 2026

McLean revealed that the breakthrough happened after a meeting between Mark Pope and Garrison last week. Garrison did not score in four of the five games before the Arkansas game, pulling down three rebounds and turning the ball over once in 14 minutes in the 25-point loss at Vanderbilt.

“The emotions of the season, it’s tough on everybody,” McLean said. “Players, coaches, just feeling the weight of the world, playing at this great university. And I thought Coach Pope and BG sat down, they had a great heart-to-heart. They cleared the — not cleared the air, but they talked about some stuff, some stuff BG was kind of frustrated about, Coach was frustrated about, and then they came to a resolution.

“And then, BG got thrown out there against Arkansas, and he was a warrior for us. He’s doing the same thing. He’s our emotional leader.”

It’s not the first time Garrison has responded to tough love this season. TV cameras captured Pope chewing him out during Kentucky’s game vs. NC Central on December 9 when Garrison failed to get back on defense after turning the ball over. Pope was so mad that he broke a clipboard in the huddle and sat Garrsion the rest of the game. Instead of pouting, Garrison put in the work in practice and in the next game out, helped Kentucky come back from a seven-point halftime deficit to beat Indiana 72-60. His mother and son were in the stands for those games, too. He made them proud again tonight.

“They always keep me in good spirits,” Garrison said of his camp. “Sometimes, everybody has their days, but you can’t let the days affect long-term in life, period.”

“Well, he’s a young professional in terms of coming to work every day and doing his job,” Jason Hart said. “When you do that, the basketball gods will bless you, and tonight he was in the right spot and 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 are happy with that.”

Effort and passion. Garrison was called for a technical on Saturday at Arkansas for standing over Darius Acuff after a foul, the first of three techs on Kentucky in 38 seconds. He got into another scuffle tonight after diving for a ball and throwing it at Derrion Reid as he was falling out of bounds. Garrison even drew a technical in the final seconds of the win vs. Oklahoma after exchanging words with Reid. Hart said the staff is encouraging Garrison to play with fire — but not to go too overboard.

“Nothing, keep doing that, we need that,” Hart said of Garrison’s physicality. “A lot of times, me working here at Kentucky, it’s always the other team’s biggest game. So, we need him to go back to who he is, getting physical with players, and we feed off of that, especially as coaches. We are not encouraging them to do anything dirty, but we need physical play, and we need him to do that, and I applaud it.”

We do too. Also, we need Akarii and Toni to follow the Cats the rest of the way this season.

To learn more about Brandon, Akarii, Toni, and their journey, I’ll direct you to my feature story from December.

[Brandon Garrison Time: How fatherhood and tough love flipped the script in a pivotal week]

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