Brandon Garrison set to return to Kentucky in 2025-26

Brandon Garrison is set to return to Kentucky next season. One of the notable additions under Mark Pope in Year 1, he will now come back for another go-round.

Garrison played in 35 games for Kentucky this past season after transferring from Oklahoma State. He averaged 5.9 points and 3.9 rebounds during that time while shooting better than 50% from the field.

At Oklahoma State, Garrison started 29 out of 32 games. He put up 7.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game before entering the transfer portal and committing to Kentucky as part of Pope’s complete roster rebuild after taking over at his alma mater.

In the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, Garrison played a key role in Kentucky’s first-round victory over Troy. He had 13 points and six rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench, providing a spark as the Wildcats came away with the 76-57 victory to advance to the Round of 32. UK’s season eventually came to an end in the Sweet Sixteen with a loss to Tennessee.

After that game, Pope spoke highly of what Garrison brings to the table when he’s on the court. He praised his standout big man’s decision-making, which is crucial to putting the pieces together in-game.

“Brandon is, I’m telling you, he’s fun, right?” Pope said ahead of the second round game against Illinois. “He’s sometimes wrong but never in doubt. And I love that about him. That’s what you want your players to be. He’s doing really special things. His float game has grown to the free throw line, his three-point game is really, really dangerous right now.

“His decisiveness on turning down decisions to get to the good one, he’s a high-level decision-maker for us. He’s got the ball in his hands. We have three cutters going at the same time and he’ll turn down, turn down, turn down, and finally choose the right one, and that’s advanced-level processing in his mind. He’s been really great.”

Brandon Garrison is now set to be part of Pope’s second season as Kentucky head coach, and he’s been working the transfer portal this cycle. UK has one of the top transfer classes in the country coming in, headlined by former Arizona State forward Jayden Quaintance. He comes in as the No. 4 overall player in the On3 Industry Transfer Rankings and No. 2-ranked power forward to hit the open market so far.