“It’s a fist fight every day and they’re both getting better because of it.”
That was Mark Pope’s blunt assessment of his frontcourt battles between Malachi Moreno and Brandon Garrison; two players whose competitive edge has turned practice into something that feels more like organized combat than conditioning. It’s not animosity. It’s energy. It’s iron sharpening iron. In order to get better, you have to give more than you thought you had.
Iron sharpens iron
Kentucky basketball under Pope has quietly redefined what player development looks like. There are no passengers. No placeholders. Every rep, every drill, every contact is designed to make someone better, or expose who isn’t keeping up.
“So, he's actually taken more advantage of of every single opportunity rep right now because he's got himself in such great shape," Pope said. “Malachi is in the 80s in field goal percentage... his ability to rim-protect outside his area." He said that it makes you take a second and think "...that's the guy I recruited a year ago.’”
A proving ground in the frontcourt
Moreno was expected to be a complementary piece this early, learning behind veterans. Instead, he has made himself unavoidable. Here he is, a Kentucky kid, earning praise for his steady temperament, while Garrison, the returning big man, has added muscle and pace. Together, they’ve transformed practice into a daily proving ground.
This is what you call healthy combat. Guys going at it as hard as they can in order to get better. This is how you build a team that doesn’t flinch in big moments during the season or in March.
Defending your spot daily
Other players have noticed too. Mark Pope has came up with a winner's board after every practice. That the team is competing hard to get on that board as they check it.
That mindset, toughness built from within, is the identity Pope is now cultivating. It’s not built on slogans, but on survival. In this version of Kentucky basketball, you don’t just earn your spot, you defend it daily. And that’s why this doesn’t feel like a collection of recruits and transfers; it feels like a brotherhood.
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