Amari Williams, Brandon Garrison had something to prove vs. Bucknell; they have more to prove vs. Duke

Mark Pope challenged his two big men to make a statement against Bucknell, especially when defending the Bison’s seven-footer Noah Williamson, one of the best players in the entire Patriot League.

Kentucky wing Ansley Almonor revealed after the Wildcats’ 100-72 win from Saturday that Pope purposely tried to irritate his bigs during practice, throwing jokes and jabs their way in hopes of annoying them enough that they would have no choice but to come out and battle against Bucknell.

“(Pope) was just making stuff up, telling Amari (Williams) ‘Oh yeah, he said he’s gonna have 30 (points) on you.’” Almonor said postgame. “It wasn’t really true, it was just funny.”

Pope wanted to see more out of Williams and fellow Kentucky center Brandon Garrison against Bucknell. He wanted more effort on the glass, specifically on the offensive end. They grabbed 19 total rebounds combined, eight of them offensive. He wanted to see them shut down Williamson from start to finish. Williamson posted just seven points on 3-12 shooting, all of those points coming in the second half.

During a pre-Duke press conference on Monday, Williams talked about offensive rebounding and defending Williamson. “I feel like we heard it every practice leading up to that game,” he said about the offensive rebounds. Pope was antagonizing both Williams and Garrison in the lead-up to the Bucknell game about Williamson and how the Bucknell center would have a great game against them.

It does enough to bother his players to the point that they just want to shut Pope up. The best way to do that? Execute and perform on the floor. They did plenty of that against Bucknell.

“Just trying to throw little jabs at you that will get riled up,” Kentucky junior guard Otega Oweh said of why Pope tries to poke at his player. “He does it in a way where you know he’s playing, but it’s like, you don’t want him to keep on saying it. So you want to try and change it.”

Pope’s tactic worked for Williams and Garrison. They cleaned up the areas that Pope was harping on in the days ahead of facing Bucknell. Williams finished with 13 points, 14 rebounds, two assists, and one block in 20 minutes against the Bison. Garrison finished with six points, five rebounds, three assists, and one block in 19 minutes. Willamson, who had scored 32 points in his previous outing, was a non-factor all night.

“Me and BG, one of the best frontcourts in the nation,” Williams said.

Williams admits he likes it when Pope tries to get under their skin in practice. “I’m gonna be surprised if he doesn’t do it today (during practice),” he added. “It’s kinda fun.”

It’ll be even more welcome with a showdown against No. 6 Duke in Atlanta set for Tuesday night. The Blue Devils roll out 7-foot-2 freshman center Khaman Maluach, one of Duke’s many projected lottery picks. 6-foot-9 backup big man Maliq Brown is someone UK will need to slow down in the frontcourt, as well.

“I feel like me and BG, it was on our minds to come out there and prove that that’s not gonna happen,” Williams said about Bucknell’s potentially bigs having a good game. “Hopefully we do the same tomorrow (against Duke) too.“

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