NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WDRB) — Sometimes a basketball team knows when something good is happening before the scoreboard says so.
Sometimes it's just a feeling.
For Kentucky in Wednesday’s 87-82 SEC Tournament win over LSU, it happened when Brandon Garrison stepped behind the 3-point line.
And shot. And made it. Then did it again.
Louisville | Kentucky | Indiana | Eric Crawford
Garrison entered the game having made only two 3-pointers all season. He was shooting barely 14% from beyond the arc. Nobody walked into Bridgestone Arena expecting Kentucky's spark to arrive from a big man suddenly launching 3-pointers.
But when those shots dropped, something around the Wildcats seemed to loosen.
The bench stood. The crowd roared. And Kentucky began to look like a team that suddenly had a little more life.
Garrison finished with 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, delivering one of his best games of the season.
"When I go out there, I just try to change the game with my energy," Garrison said afterward. "I feel like I'm an energy player."
His teammates have seen the same thing.
"BG is a big leader for this team," freshman Malachi Moreno said. "He's been a big leader for me all season."
Even the 3-pointers weren't quite the surprise they might have seemed.
"I watch him shoot in practice," guard Collin Chandler said. "He has good form. He has good confidence."
Kentucky coach Mark Pope had a slightly different explanation.
Apparently, Garrison had been planning this all along.
"He's been telling me all season, 'Coach, I'm not going to make any shots until the postseason. I'm just saving them,'" Pope said with a smile. "Apparently he knows more than I do."
The shots helped ignite the Wildcats. But the victory also revealed something Kentucky has been searching for late in the season.
Depth.
For much of the past month, Kentucky has looked like a team trying to hold things together with a shortened rotation. Injuries had shrunk the bench. Roles tightened. Every possession seemed to require a little more effort.
But Wednesday, the Wildcats suddenly looked a little deeper again.
And perhaps most importantly, Kam Williams was back.
The sophomore guard had missed the previous 12 games with a broken foot, and even some teammates weren't sure he would be available until shortly before tipoff.
"To be honest, I didn't even know he was going to play today," Denzel Aberdeen said. "But I'm proud of him. He's been in and out of the training room trying to get back to us."
Williams didn't dominate the box score. But his presence was felt.
"It's not just the basketball," Chandler said. "Just having Kam around with his energy and the personality he brings to the team is great. It gave us all a lift seeing him back out there."
Garrison felt it too.
"We was doing it for Cam," he said. "Just happy he back out there."
For Pope, the significance went beyond one afternoon. The SEC Tournament is a four-day test of depth and durability, and simply having another body capable of playing meaningful minutes can change the entire equation.
"Just getting some extra minutes from another space is really important for us," Pope said. "Especially when we're going back to back to back to back to back."
For a few stretches Wednesday, Kentucky looked like a team that suddenly had more pieces again.
Garrison hitting 3-pointers. Williams returning to the rotation. Role players providing energy and toughness.
"It helps the whole team with confidence," Garrison said. "I feel like we're just in a great rhythm right now."
In March, sometimes it arrives when a big man who barely shoots 3-pointers all winter suddenly makes two in a row.
For Kentucky on Wednesday, it felt that way.
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