When he flashed, the 6-10 forward was brilliant. Other times he was raw with a long journey seemingly ahead trying to find his ceiling.
He came to Lexington hoping to turn those physical tools and natural gifts into consistent production, a long-term process with a substantial payoff, potentially. Part of that, Mark Pope says, is learning what makes Garrison tick and trying to capitalize on those moments in real time, then recreating them.
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Mark Pope is figuring out how to get the most out of Brandon Garrison
by:
Jack Pilgrim
•
11/15/24
Brandon Garrison shines in Kentucky’s win over Duke
Dylan Ballard, A Sea Of Blue courtesy to Kentucky Sports Radio
Brandon Garrison transferred to Kentucky from Oklahoma State as the high-upside guy, a former McDonald’s All-American with three 20-point games in the Big 12, but 22 games in single digits. When he flashed, the 6-10 forward was brilliant. Other times he was raw with a long journey seemingly ahead trying to find his ceiling.
He came to Lexington hoping to turn those physical tools and natural gifts into consistent production, a long-term process with a substantial payoff, potentially. Part of that, Mark Pope says, is learning what makes Garrison tick and trying to capitalize on those moments in real time, then recreating them.
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A sequence they’ve got playing on a loop inside the Joe Craft Center film room? The one that likely won the game for Kentucky against Duke, racking up six points, one offensive rebound, one block and one steal in two minutes to make it a two-point game — the closest it had been since the 8:23 mark of the first half. Garrison flipped the momentum and gave the Wildcats a chance to pull off the comeback win, Pope going out of his way to praise the sophomore big man’s spark off the bench in a crucial stretch of the game.
I was really proud with his — just in general, his energy on the floor,” he said Thursday. “Partly that is due to us learning him a little bit and learning about him in this pace, and trying to manage his early minutes versus his late minutes.”
- Interestingly enough, the staff has been studying player performance to get a feel for how they’re best used on the floor and for how long, taking that data and applying it to the rotation. That’s helped them get the most out of their players, not keeping them in the game too long or too short to maximize those windows of brilliance.
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