Brandon Garrison responds to benching with huge impact in Kentucky's win over Indiana

Sometimes you learn more about a player in a bad week than in a good month.

Earlier this week, Brandon Garrison got his first real wake-up call as a Wildcat. After a lazy turnover and even lazier effort to get back, Mark Pope took a timeout and told him to "Go sit down." He did just that not playing the rest of the first half or any in the second half against UNCC. No spin, no sugarcoating, it was a message.

Garrison could’ve sulked. He could’ve fired off cryptic posts or let the noise get loud.

Instead, he laced up and went to work.

How Brandon Garrison turned a message into a statement for Kentucky basketball

After the Indiana win, Pope shared the kind of practice story that will live in team lore if this season turns around.

“There were 100 reasons why BG could have gone to the corner and complained to a teammate or called out to coaches…” Pope said. “But due to what’s inside him… he showed up to practice. 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.”

That response showed up under the lights.

Garrison finished with 6 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 21 minutes, but the box score doesn’t tell the whole story. He anchored the paint, battled on the glass, and helped turn Indiana’s drives into wild, contested looks.

He handled questions about the benching with the same maturity he played with.

“It’s just a part of basketball. I made a mistake, you know?” Garrison said. “I feel like I handled it the right way. I didn’t let it bring me down. I came out and responded well.” And he did, he battled harder this game than he has in the majority of games he has been in at Kentucky.

Asked about the crowd roaring for him?

“Yeah, BBN’s always there for us. But it was amazing tonight, you know, loud. But they always show out for us.”

His favorite moment?

“I’ll say the offensive rebound, just because our guys support each other, have our backs. You know, after the rebound, we came out with a big bucket.”

Pope, who is juggling the tension between “we have to win” and “we want to grow these guys,” didn’t hide what Garrison’s night meant.

“Our job is to win… but in the process, watching guys grow is pretty awesome,” he said. “I was really proud of BG tonight.”

If this is the version of Garrison Kentucky gets going forward, that early-season “message” might end up being one of the turning points of the year.