2025-26 Kentucky basketball player preview: Brandon Garrison

One of Kentucky's returning players from last season has high hopes of making a big jump in his second year in Mark Pope's system. He's going to need some sort of jump in production, especially early while incoming transfer big man Jayden Quaintance rehabs from an ACL injury. Last season, Garrison showed flashes of what he can do in Pope's system, but one key thing to improve on is his decision-making, and as a big man with playmaking ability, he'll need to improve that this season.

Garrison, a former McDonald's All-American, is one of the few veterans this season that has already played under Mark Pope, With a year under his belt, he has already became a veteran leader on the team. Over the off-season, Quaintance said he was leaning on Garrison to learn how Pope's system works while he was forced to sit and watch practice from afar while rehabbing. That's the kind of leadership Garrison will bring, and he'll be hoping that translates to the court.

One of Kentucky's most important players, especially early in the season, is definitely Garrison as he'll get to show all of the improvements he made over the off-season very early in the season. Kentucky will need to lean on him early as the anchor of the front-court.

What could Garrison's stats look like this season? Let's make a prediction.

Points: 6.4 per game

Garrison isn't expected to contribute much in the scoring column, but he should be involved a little more than last season. The 6-11 big man seemed to do a little too much on the offensive end at times last season, leading to turnovers. He has been working on his decision-making all summer, something Mark Pope has even said has been an emphasis for the big man this off-season.

Rebounds: 7.6 per game

Keep in mind, Garrison is going to have to step up big for the Wildcats early in the frontcourt with Quaintance out, so it wouldn't make sense to not expect a jump in rebounding production, which will be important for Garrison, who is already a very good defensive big man. Last season, the 6-11 big man averaged 5.9 boards in 17.3 minutes per game, and that number should be significantly higher this season with an increased role.

Assists: 3.8 per game

With Garrison working on improving his decision-making over the summer, his assists should follow that hard work at take a big jump. Garrison had a tendency of forcing shots on offense last season, so if he does end up making much better decisions often next season, that should lead to a good amount of assists. Mo Dioubate could take the point forward role at times, like Amari Williams last season, but Garrison should get opportunities to show off his playmaking.

Mark Pope has said multiple times this off-season players in their second year in his system take big jumps, and Garrison is expected to do just that.