Brandon Garrison is coming back to Kentucky, a boost for Mark Pope’s frontcourt

The only post player from Mark Pope’s first Kentucky roster with remaining eligibility will stay put with the Wildcats for the 2025-26 season. Brandon Garrison, who had been the subject of rumors that he might depart the program after one year — either to the transfer portal or the NBA draft — has decided to stick around with the Cats for his junior season. He announced his decision with a post on Instagram on Saturday night. Garrison, who operated primarily as the backup to fifth-year center Amari Williams on the 2024-25 roster, projects to step into a possible starting role at Kentucky, which will lose Williams and power forwards Andrew Carr and Ansley Almonor this offseason. But Kentucky’s coaching staff has spent a good deal of time and energy looking for talented frontcourt players in the transfer portal to play alongside Garrison next season. UK has landed 6-foot-10 post player Jayden Quaintance — projected as a future NBA lottery pick — as well as 6-7 forward Mouhamed Dioubate and 6-8 wing

Kam Williams to bolster the team’s length and physicality out of the portal. The Wildcats also landed a Saturday commitment from Croatian forward Andrija Jelavic, 6-11 player who averaged 10.8 points and 7.4 rebounds per game in the Adriatic League this past season. And they’ll be bringing in McDonald’s All-American center Malachi Moreno — Kentucky’s Mr. Basketball and the MVP of the Sweet 16 — coming aboard for the 2025-26 season. Even though UK’s coaches have been busy in the transfer portal, Pope spoke highly of Garrison and his developmental path over the course of the 2024-25 season. He averaged 5.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 17.3 minutes per game in his first year in Lexington, coming off the bench in all 35 of his appearances for the Wildcats. Garrison — a former McDonald’s All-American from the Oklahoma City area — started 29 of 32 games for Oklahoma State as a freshman, though the Cowboys went 12-20 that season. He will have two remaining years of eligibility at the college level. Garrison, who turned 21 years old last month, came to Kentucky with the knowledge that Williams was likely to be the team’s starting center. He joined the UK roster as an understudy, of sorts, with the expectation of jumping into a larger role on Pope’s team down the road. While Garrison did show signs of improvement over the course of the season, he struggled with consistency. In Kentucky’s final game — a loss to Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament — the sophomore big man tallied three points, one rebound and one assist in 18 minutes. But there were definite signs of progress. Garrison, who attempted zero 3-point shots at Oklahoma State, went 12-for-40 in his first season playing within Pope’s five-out offense. That’s not a great rate (30%) but Garrison projects to improve as an outside shooter with more experience. He also showed flashes of the passing skill that Pope covets in his big men, and his physicality will be needed in the SEC. Following UK’s loss to Tennessee in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament, Garrison said he would huddle with his family and his agent before making a decision on his future. He also said that night that he felt Kentucky was on the path to even more success in the future. “It’s going in the right direction,” he said of Pope’s program. “I feel like everybody doubted us going into this, so I feel like we opened up a lot of eyes.”