@KentuckyMBB
Sitting out of all contact practices since early October and Kentucky’s first nine games of the season with a tricky calf injury, sophomore forward Keion Brooks Jr. returned with a vengeance.
Finishing with 12 points on 6-8 shooting, six rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal in 24 minutes, Brooks was one of the key reasons Kentucky was able to secure the blowout 76-58 victory and move to 3-0 in conference play.
After months of uncertainty and practice limitations, UK head coach John Calipari was elated to have a “steadying force” back in the Kentucky lineup.
“The only thing he wasn’t able to do with us was anything with contact. He was practicing, conditioning, and I said, “You better, because we’re going to know something in the next couple days. You better condition.” And he has been,” Calipari said. “He’s just a disciplined, conscientious (player). Nice to have a steadying force. … There was a lot of good.”
The impressive debut performance comes after an emotional week for the sophomore forward, one where he expected news of yet another delayed return from team doctors.
“I told the team this, when he talked to the doctors, he seemed scared to death, thought it was going to go longer. Hands were shaking. He came to see me, they cleared him, and he and I got emotional and I hugged him.”
After the news, Brooks wasn’t worried about where he’d fit in the rotation or how many minutes he’d receive right away. The veteran forward only cared about doing what was best for the team.
Considering the team’s recent public and private turmoil, Calipari was quick to use Brooks’ response and overall message as a lesson to the team.
“I said, “I have to figure out how I can slide you in.” He said, “Coach, I trust you, you do whatever you think is best for this team.” I told the team that,” Calipari said. “I said, “Think of some you. You get subbed, and some of you are like, “Why’d you sub me?!” Think of you. Think of how he responded to this. He’s a leader by example. He’s not a confrontational guy, that’s not who he is.”
As for the on-court presence, Brooks built right off of his impressive end-of-year performance in Gainesville last March, carrying himself with poise and confidence. You could see the slight rust, but Brooks made the right scoring, passing, and defensive decisions more often than not.
“You saw the kind of athlete he is,” Calipari said. “You see he’s way physically stronger than where he was. He’s way more patient mentally, the game has slowed down for him. It’s a big deal. We’ve been playing without him, I mean, come on.”
Calipari likened Brooks to an on-court coach, praising the sophomore forward for his guidance and leadership in his season debut.
“He can calm them down on the court, so he takes it off our staff,” the UK head coach said. “That’s what makes it amazing, at Mississippi State, how we pulled that off without him. How we did it and how they kept together. He’s a special young man, great human being, great teammate and a skilled basketball player. Very talented.”
Suiting up alongside Brooks for the first time in his career, graduate transfer guard Davion Mintz struggled to come up with words to describe the 6-foot-7 forward’s play in his debut. To put it simply, he was a game-changer.
“You watched the game, you saw it,” Mintz said. “He gave us a whole different element to the game. Keion was amazing today. It was super fun. I’m speechless, really. It was amazing.”
Oddly enough, Mintz could sense an impressive day was coming for Brooks after talking to him during pregame warmups. There were no nerves, zero pressure.
Brooks was just grateful to be back on the floor.
“Keion has been having good practices. He’s been easing in. But not to discredit his practices, it’s been nothing like the game. He just turned a different switch, it was amazing,” Mintz said. “We were testing him, seeing what he can do. … We knew he’d play well, but we didn’t know he’d come in and make the impact he did. That’s just a credit to his work and the rehab, the guys that have been helping him.
“… He doesn’t have any pressure on him. He told me before the game, “I’m just going to go out there and have fun, I have nothing to lose. I’m just blessed to be playing right now.” Once I saw he had that attitude, I knew, “OK, good day for Keion.” And he did.”
As for Brooks, he was confident in his ability to produce in his debut, crediting Kentucky strength coach Rob Harris for keeping him in game shape while his calf injury kept him out of competition.
“I’ve always believed in my ability to come back and play well. I was constantly working out, staying in great shape,” Brooks said. “Huge shout out to coach Rob Harris, our strength coach. I don’t even like calling him that, he’s so much more than that. Not only did he do a great job keeping me in great shape, but I spent a lot of time with him, so he was always in my ear about staying positive. The conversations we had, he really helped me get through what I was going through.”
Above all else, beyond the production, Brooks was just happy to serve as the leader for a team that has been desperate for one since the season began. He wanted to bring a positive, contagious attitude to the floor, and it rubbed off on his teammates.
“You hit the nail on the head, my leadership. I just try to bring energy and hopefully my energy is infectious to my teammates,” Brooks said. “They also did a great job of sticking with me the whole time I was hurt. I didn’t want to go out there and let them down, not playing to their standard, not being as engaged as they are, not having as much energy as they would have. That works both ways.
“My leadership was really dependent on them and them allowing me to be a leader. It went well tonight.”
