College basketball fans know that March Madness can produce a flurry of amazing moments.
Oftentimes, those amazing moments come from players who weren’t on anyone’s radar to make such a meaningful contribution.
On Wednesday afternoon in Nashville, the Kentucky Wildcats received a major lift from Brandon Garrison when they desperately needed it most in an 87-82 squeaker over LSU.
Garrison’s impressive stat line of 17 points and five rebounds off the bench made the ultimate difference in a first-round
game that saw the Wildcats win by just five points over LSU.
“He came, and he stepped up big-time,” said Denzel Aberdeen of Garrison’s huge game. “He always comes to the game ready 110%. He’s not backing down to any challenge. I’m just proud of him today for him coming up and stepping up.”
For much of the game, things looked dicey, and it appeared as if Kentucky and its fans could have been headed for an extremely painful exit from the 2026 SEC Tournament.
But Garrison and his teammates had other plans and did what needed to be done down the stretch to secure a victory.
“He’s been telling me all season, Coach, I’m not going to make any shots till the postseason. I’m just going to save them. Apparently, he knows more than I do (smiling),” Pope said of Garrison.
“It’s interesting, because you know BG. If you know him BG, sometimes personally, he can put on this little maybe also shy persona. He has zero part of him that’s shy on the court. He was great tonight, man. He really had a terrific game.
“My favorite play of the game, he’s seven for nine from the field, was the dunk that he missed. He was so physical and determined to get to the rim. He went back and got his own miss off the dunk and got the ball.”
Given the fact that this was a postseason game, one could argue this was the most important performance of Garrison’s three-year collegiate career thus far.
I was inside Bridgestone Arena and can confidently confirm that the BBN let out a collective “NO” on Brandon Garrison’s first 3-point attempt of the second half. After the shot splashed through the net, the crowd erupted into a frenzy. It wasn’t long after that that Garrison drilled another triple, fueling what became the game-winning run for Mark Pope’s Wildcats.
After the second 3 dropped, it was the loudest moment of the entire afternoon as the UK fans who made the trip to Nashville went bananas. Had those deep shots not fallen, this game could have had an entirely different result.
“When BG is operating like that, when he’s that physical and intentional, he’s special. Take the threes, lose the threes. He was a huge factor for us in this game,” said Pope.
I think we can all agree that the best version of Garrison is pretty fun to watch on and off the court. When his energy is channeled properly, his presence can provide that X-factor that the Cats need if they expect to keep advancing in the SEC Tournament and next week’s NCAA Tournament. There is no doubt that Coach Pope (and everyone) will be looking to Garrison for another big performance on Thursday.
The Cats will take on Missouri at 12:30 PM ET on SEC Network.
