UK coaches excited about upside of Brandon Garrison

Amari Williams went from a player known primarily for his defense when he transferred from Drexel to Kentucky last season to a “point center” who often initiated UK’s offense after injuries helped decimate coach Mark Pope’s backcourt at times.

With Williams now hoping to keep a spot with the Boston Celtics, Kentucky has to find a new center.

Kentucky assistant coach Mikhail McClean says the easy and somewhat obvious answer is Arizona State transfer Jayden Quaintance. He’s already being projected as a lottery pick in the 2026 NBA Draft even though he’s coming off a knee injury and no one is exactly sure when he’ll be ready for game action.

“He’s new to our system and we can just kind of teach him the way we play that can help him be effective and efficient at the next level while helping us now,” McClean said. “But Brandon Garrison is going on year two with us and it’s always been a two-year plan with us for his projections.

“The best thing he got to do was have a front seat last year and learn from Amari every single day and get better. I think Brandon Garrison is going to have a really big jump and is the guy I’m really excited to work with. He still has a huge upside ”

McClean is excited about working with 7-foot freshman Malachi Moreno, Kentucky’s 2025 Mr. Basketball.

“His size, his potential, of all the things he’s good at, a whole bunch of stuff we want him to be great at,” McLean said when asked what excites him about Moreno. “We want him to be great at one or two things, but he’s good at everything. He could rebound, he could defend. He’s developing a jump shot.

“He played really well for USA Basketball in the summer. So it’s just a matter of taking the momentum from the high school season to USA this summer into this season and him learning from Brandon and Jayden. Brandon’s the old guy of the group but he can teach and help Malachi a lot.”

That mentorship/leadership is something Pope stressed to Garrison that helped convince him to return to UK for another season.

“We talked about being a leader and trying to lead this team this year. He also told me to be in the best condition I could be,” Garrison said. “Also he obviously wants me to improve my overall game and take the extra steps to do that. That’s all he’s been preaching to me this whole off season.”