Against Kansas, it was Keion Brooks' turn to take over for Kentucky

All night long, Keion Brooks Jr. was getting any and every shot he wanted against the Kansas Jayhawks.

His patented mid-range jumper was rolling as the defense allowed him to roam around just outside of the paint. Brooks would position himself in open space, receive an easy pass from the perimeter, and turn around for the shot he’s hit dozens and dozens of times this season. No matter what defense Kansas threw out (and there sure were some interesting ones), Brooks got to his spot and knocked down the same shot over and over again.

Brooks was the leading scorer during Kentucky’s absolute beatdown of the No. 7 Kansas Jayhawks inside of Allen Fieldhouse on Saturday. In what mirrored the win over Tennessee earlier this season, UK established a double-digit lead early and never let off the gas. Kentucky led by 20 at the intermission and won by a final score of 80-62.

It was a total team effort from the ‘Cats, but Brooks played at a level not yet seen during his time at Kentucky–the junior forward poured in a career-high 27 points on 9-16 shooting, including a near-perfect 9-10 mark from the free-throw line. Brooks chipped in eight rebounds and an assist without turning the ball over a single time. It genuinely felt like the points were coming easy for him.

KEION BROOKS JR. IS REALLY GOOD AT BASKETBALL 🙂

— Tyty Washington (@tytywashington3) January 30, 2022

“I’m so proud of him for what he did tonight,” Oscar Tshiebwe said postgame of Brooks’ performance. “He helped us to win this game. The way he came out tonight, he was unbelievable, so I’m so proud of him. I want him to keep coming like that every night.”

This season, Brooks has made an untimely habit of overplaying his role a bit; putting the ball on the floor more than he should, taking long contested 2s, trying to force a play that isn’t there, etc. But against Kansas, it was natural. He played within the flow of the offense and took advantage of the many opportunities that were presented to him.

“I really know when I’m gonna have my better games. I started off the game with a tip-dunk, so that let me know I was gonna be really into it,” Brooks said postgame. “And then I just kept playing hard throughout the whole game. Teammates did a great job of hitting me in my spots and I made shots.”

💥 @KeionB_12

KBJ with the follow-up slam pic.twitter.com/VrvYmq0gpg

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) January 29, 2022

It’s been a bit of an up-and-down season for Brooks, but with more ups than downs. Coming into Saturday night, he was averaging 10.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per night on 48.5 percent shooting; very respectable numbers for the fifth option on a team with national title aspirations. But a lack of consistency has marred him of a bigger role, if there’s even one for the taking.

That could be changing in front of us though, and it comes back to Brooks not stepping out of his comfort zone. In UK’s win over Mississippi State earlier this week, he posted 12 points and six points on 5-10 shooting.

“Yeah because of how he’s been playing.” UK head coach John Calipari said postgame if he knew Brooks’ was in for a big night. “How he played the last game and what he’s been doing in practice… He rebounded, he played tough.”

There was one portion of Saturday’s game where Kentucky was on its heels, but it wasn’t TyTy Washington or Kellan Grady or Oscar Tshiebwe who came up clutch for the ‘Cats. That would be Brooks.

Riding a 20-point halftime lead, UK came out of the break playing at a slower pace than the first half. Part of that was due to Brooks’ offensive rebounding and forcing Kansas to put him on the line. He began the second half with a mid-range jumper that he followed up by hitting seven of eight free throws–all of this coming across a six-minute span.

Brooks simply outhustled, outleaped, and outplayed the Jayhawk frontcourt by himself, effectively burying a top 10 team in the country. He was scooping up loose balls and putting himself in positions for success. Brooks sat about two minutes midway through the second half before coming right back in the game and drilling three more mid-range jumpers in under three minutes. At one point, he scored 15 straight points for Kentucky in the second half.

“I told (Brooks) while we were on the bench I said ‘you won this game’ cause we were dying and you made stuff out of nothing,” Calipari said.

The Keion Brooks game. ™️ pic.twitter.com/zdTn8tkbhF

— Cats Coverage 😼 (@CatsCoverage_) January 30, 2022