Mark Pope preaching patience (and less hand-smacking) with Brandon Garrison's post game
Brandon Garrison has shown his potential plenty in a reserve role for Kentucky this season. The sophomore big man is averaging 5.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in just 18 minutes per outing across his 11 games played. His playmaking as a seven-footer has been highlighted under head coach Mark Pope. Garrison is dishing out more assists while turning the ball over less compared to his freshman season at Oklahoma State.
Being the hub of the offense as a center is baked into Pope’s offensive game plan. He needs a passing big who can keep the floor spaced. Amari Williams does that in a starting role for Kentucky with Garrison filling in the gaps off the bench. Whether he’s surveying his options from the top of the key or operating out of the post with his head up, Garrison is getting better — and more importantly, more patient — at finding his teammates.
That’s exactly what Pope wants to see. And he wants to see even more of it moving forward.
“Brandon is really interesting,” Pope said during his radio show on Monday. “What we’ve seen in him that’s been so spectacular is he’s just becoming more and more patient in the post. Even in a game (against Ohio State) that certainly didn’t feel right, he made a couple of great plays out of the post where he really, really allowed actions to happen away from him. He had an unbelievable backdoor pass to Ansley Almonor cutting down the lane late, in a late split-cut in the first half. He’s doing that more and more.”
You don’t have to watch Garrison on the floor for long before noticing that he plays with a ton of energy. Sometimes that energy results in awesome hustle plays. Sometimes that energy gets him into a dust-up or two. But his willingness to battle is part of what has made him so endearing to the Blue Big Nation. “Vinny from Tennessee” called into the Pope radio show to ask about that, particularly Garrison’s apparent habit of smacking his opponent’s arms down when that person tries to put his hands on him during a dead ball.
It’s something I’ve noticed as well, and it’s been pointed out by a handful of fans online. While it hasn’t gotten Garrison into any trouble just yet, Pope did acknowledge (without directly mentioning the hand-slapping) that he and his staff are actively trying to make Garrison play with his shoulders and hips as opposed to his hands and arms.
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“And what we’d like him to do — we’re actually encouraging him to be more hips and shoulders than hands,” Pope continued. “We talk about big shoulders in the post where you’re — this is going to get very detailed Vinny so forgive me — where your axis is actually not your shoulder, it’s not your shoulder that you’re turning on an axis, but your axis is straight down through the middle core of your body, which allows your shoulder to actually create space when you turn.
“It’s a little bit of a nuance thing but we’re trying to get him away from hands and forearms and more into big shoulders, center axis turns, where he creates space that way.”
Garrison has recorded 26 assists on the season with just 14 turnovers. His assist rate of 20.1 percent is among the best in the country for a big man. His shooting touch still needs to find a groove (just 48.1 percent with most of his shots coming in/around the paint), but you can see the NBA potential just through his ability to create opportunities for others within the flow of an offense. His consistency has been impressive, as well.
“He’s got a ton in the tank,” Pope added. “He is gonna grow into an extraordinary player. He’s learning a lot with us right now. What he’s done in terms of protecting the ball through the course of the season so far, his assist-to-turnover is still really, really solid.”
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