Brandon Garrison, left, responded the "right way" to being disciplined by coach Mark Pope. (Vicky Graff Photo)
If you make a mistake, own it. That’s what Kentucky junior center Brandon Garrison did.
He was benched by coach Mark Pope in the first half of UK’s easy win over North Carolina Central because he did not hustle back on defense after committing a turnover. That came midway through the first half and Garrison did not play again.
However, he was 3-for-6 from the field and had six points, five rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block in 20 1/2 minutes in the 72-60 win over Indiana Saturday, UK’s first significant win of the season.
“It’s just a part of basketball. I made a mistake, you know? I feel like I handled it the right way. I didn’t let it bring me down. I came out and responded well,” Garrison said after Saturday night’s win.
Pope actually broke a clipboard in the huddle after he got upset with Garrison and had several verbal exchanges with the player. The Kentucky coach admitted there was no way to “every really be confident” how a player would respond to discipline.
“I don’t want to make a bigger deal of anything than it was. It’s not, you can’t burn hot all the time, I don’t think as a coach now. But I think there’s times where you are kind of left with nothing else a little bit. That’s the tough thing,” Pope said. “I wish I could tell you I know how every player is going to react to every confrontation or conversation I have with them, but you don’t. I’d just like your children, you don’t.
“I’m left with just real pride. Like BG’s mom should be really proud. His inner circle should be really proud. Because there’s something inside him. There’s no way to hide from any spotlight here at Kentucky. Every single little moment of our game and interactions is blown up. Which is one of the great things about this place. There were 100 reasons why BG could have gone to the corner and complained to a teammate or called out to coaches or hung up his jersey or come be a pouty guy in practice. There were 100 reasons why that could have been his reaction.
“But due to what’s inside him and how he wants to be a father example to his son and how he wants to make his mom proud and how badly he wants to be successful. In the process of him growing up to be, hopefully a great man, which hopefully he can do. That would be worth everything. He showed up to practice and we go through practice and he had a great practice and we don’t do a ton of conditioning in the practice. But this day we did. On his own he won every sprint, outsprinted every guard, every single person.
“I didn’t tell him to do that. I did not pre-prep him to do that. That was just his response. We don’t always respond the right way, but he responded the right way and I’m super proud of him. I’m happy for him. And our job is to win, that’s it. But those things are really special to me. That’s going to be in his pocket. That’s going to be a little part of his DNA. It doesn’t mean he’s going to respond right all the time but there’s a way better chance next time in life, in basketball, in whatever. He’s going to have a chance to respond better and that’s how you become a great man. It’s pretty cool.”
Garrison appreciated the support he got from Kentucky fans, especially during the Indiana game.
“BBN’s always there for us. But it was amazing tonight, loud. But they always show out for us,” Garrison said.
Kentucky did not play well the first half against Indiana but was clearly the better team in the second half and Garrison was a big part of that.
“Just next play mentality. I try not to stay on that topic. I feel like if you have a positive mindset, people feel like this happens,” he said
4 Responses
Garrison has yet to reach the level of play that was expected in his third year. There will never be a better time for him to deliver on that.
We need to set up plays for Chandler and Noah. They are both shooting north of 41% at 3s. Kam Williams was recruited to also be a shooter but he's only shooting 21% from 3. We need someone else to step up on there 3 point shooting. Really this is killing this team. This team is a terrible shooting team. Pope went after "defense" over offense and it shows. We don't have our best defensive player yet. JQ has a unique skill set. He can guard anyone 2-5. Especially 3-5. This helps when the defense has to switch to a smaller guy. One stat that ive always heard is effort from bigs is blocking shots. Garrison as a freshman averaged 1.6 blocks per game. Last year he averaged almost 1 block per game. This year should be his best year for blocking shots he has experience and he's 6'10" and only averages 0.3 blocks per game. Which means he only gets one block about every 3 games that's terrible. Kam Williams also hasn't impressed me at all. I heard a lot of people say he could be a one and done here at Kentucky. Hes shooting 21% from 3.. for being almost 2 inches taller than Mo-D he's not aggressive at all. Williams needs to get more tough. I said before the year started he will need a year here just to get adjusted to the hype of Kentucky. He might be in over his head. Kentucky will show you very fast if you can play at the next level. He needs to stay another year or possibly 2. Garrison is also a 4 year guy. Jelavic by the end of the year will be the second best big on the team. Even tho he's a year and a half older than Moreno it will still take him time to get used to American basketball. Next year he will be a much more polished player. Moreno will be a double double machine next year. Johnson should get better and better as the year goes on. I think he's a 2-3 and done. I'm excited for the future of Kentucky basketball. I still think we are a year away from showing a national title type of team. I said before this year started we will have a good season but not great season. That will happen next year. This year I thought we would win close to 30 games and make it to the elite 8 or at best the final 4. Which I think in 26-27 we will win the championship. We might have a chance this year depending on how we look with JQ in the lineup.
It has been a while since Kentucky wasn't ranked. That shows how far the program has deteriorated and how bad Pope has failed the assignment. This is not what you were hired to do. Let there be no misunderstanding…if you want to keep your job, get in the NCAA tourney and make it to a regional final. Anything less…you are history!
Garrisom has one of the top 5 game ANE’s this season and his performance is typically impacted by who is on the floor at the same time. He is much more productive when players share the ball instead of selfish shoot instead of pass olayera who seldom get assists.
Dioubate & Garrison with Moreno can be an elite front court if given more and more minutes together when Chandler & Noah round out the 5 on the floor. It takes time to build chemistry and playing together with the SAME teammates is essential to make it happen. Let the others make up the other 5 getting about 8 minutes per half. Then UK will start winning and winning.
Just an opinion, but a good one since those 5 I prefer have the top 5 game efficiencies this season! That means they are TEAM 1st players.