After the defensive catastrophe against Michigan State, everyone knew changes were coming. But when the ball went up against Loyola (MD) on Friday night, the changes were drastic.
With Mo Dioubate sidelined due to injury, Mark Pope didn’t just plug in a replacement; he overhauled the frontcourt. Freshman Malachi Moreno got the nod at center, sending Brandon Garrison, who had started the first five games, to the bench.
In modern college basketball, a demotion like that can sometimes lose a player. We've all seen it: the body language dips, the effort wanes, and the Transfer Portal rumors start swirling.
Brandon Garrison did the exact opposite.
The "best story of the night"
Garrison didn't pout. He didn't sulk. He came off the bench and played like a man whose hair was on fire.
In just 20 minutes of action, Garrison ripped down a team-high 11 rebounds (three on the offensive glass), added 6 points, and blocked a shot. It was the kind of gritty, dirty-work performance that Kentucky desperately lacked in the Champions Classic.
Mark Pope took notice immediately.
"Maybe the best story of the night... is BG's response," Pope said in the postgame presser. "I mean he's an 11-rebound guy. I don't think he's done that all season... Has he been an 11-rebound guy starting?"
Pope nailed it. Garrison had not recorded double-digit rebounds in any game prior to this one. The benching woke something up in him. But the competition wasn't great, and we will see if that was just a one-off after next week when UNC and Gonzaga are on deck.
Message sent, message received?
When asked if the lineup change was intended to send a message to the team about complacency, Pope played it cool.
"I'm not really a message guy. Everything we do is very direct and intentional," Pope claimed, citing matchups and Dioubate’s injury as the primary reasons for the switch.
But you have to read between the lines here. Pope also noted that Garrison's internal monologue could have gone negative. Instead, Pope described Garrison's mindset as: "Hey, so listen, coach decided not to start me. I'm going to go be unbelievable in my 20 minutes off the bench."
That is a championship mentality.
The frontcourt of the future?
The shakeup also allowed Pope to experiment with playing Garrison and Moreno together, a "twin towers" look that fans havent been too keen on because neither spaces the floor. Pope admitted that Dioubate’s injury forced his hand, but he liked what he saw from the duo.
"There's a chance that... that could be a lineup that could help us in minutes in a game," Pope said.
Whether Garrison returns to the starting five or Moreno keeps the job is almost irrelevant now. What matters is that Kentucky now knows they have a big man who responds to adversity with production, not pity.
If Garrison brings this same energy against SEC competition, Mark Pope is going to have a very good problem on his hands. But that is a very big if.
Drew Holbrook is an avid Kentucky fan who has been covering the Cats for over 10 years. In his free time he enjoys downtime with his family and Premier League soccer. You can find him on X here. Micah 7:7. #UptheAlbion