@KentuckyMBB
Second forward Keion Brooks Jr., who has ruled out a troublesome calf injury since the start of October and the first nine games of the season, has returned with a serious calf injury.
Brooks was one of the main reasons Kentucky was able to succeed with 12 points on 6-8 shooting, six rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal in 24 minutes, and securing the 76-58 victory and after To move in 3-0. conference play.
After months of uncertainty and training restrictions, UK head coach John Calipari was excited to have a “steady strength” in the series in Kentucky.
‘The only thing he could not do with us was something with contact. He practiced, conditioned, and I said, ‘better, because we’ll know something in the next few days. Your better condition. “And he was,” Calipari said. ‘He’s just a disciplined, conscientious (player). Nice to have a steady strength. … There was a lot of good. ‘
The impressive debut performance comes after an emotional week for the second forward, where he expected news of another delayed return of team doctors.
“I told the team when he spoke to the doctors, he was terrified and thought it would take longer. Hands tremble. He came to see me, they cleaned him up, and he and I got emotional and I hugged him. ‘
After the news, Brooks was not worried about where he would fit in the rotation or how many minutes he would receive immediately. The veteran forward just cares about doing what’s best for the team.
Given the team’s recent public and private unrest, Calipari quickly used Brooks’ response and overall message as a lesson to the team.
“I said, ‘I need to find out how I can move you in.’ “He said, ‘Coach, I trust you, you do everything you think is best for this team.’ I told the team, ‘Calipari said. “I said, ‘Think of some of you. You are immersed, and some of you are like, “Why would you subject me ?!” Thinking about you. Think about how he reacted to this. He is an example. He’s not a confrontational man, that’s not who he is. ‘
As for the presence on the court, Brooks built up his impressive end-of-year performance in Gainesville in March last year and carried himself with confidence. You could see the slight rust, but Brooks made the right points, passes and defensive decisions more often than not.
“You’ve seen what kind of athlete he is,” Calipari said. “You see he is physically stronger than where he was. He is mentally very patient, the game slowed down for him. This is a big problem. We played without him, I mean, come on. ”
Calipari compares Brooks to a coach on the field and praises the second forward for his leadership and leadership in his season debut.
“He can calm them down on the pitch, so he takes it off our staff,” the British head coach said. ‘This is what makes it amazing in the Mississippi state how we pulled it off without him. How we did it and how they held together. He is a special young man, a good man, a good teammate and a skilled basketball player. Very talented. ”
Graduation guard Davion Mintz sat down with Brooks for the first time in his career, struggling to come up with words to describe the 6-foot-7 forward 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 very different element in the game. Keion was amazing today. It was super fun. I’m really speechless. It was breathtaking. “
Oddly enough, Mintz could sense that an impressive day would dawn for Brooks after talking to him during the warm-up game. There were no nerves, no pressure.
Brooks was just thankful he could be on the floor again.
Keion had good practices. He was relaxing. But not to discredit his practices, it was nothing like the game. “He just turned another switch, it was unbelievable,” Mintz said. “We tested him and saw what he could do. … We knew he would play well, but we did not know he would come in and make the impact he had. It’s just an honor to his job and the rehabilitation, the guys who helped him.
‘… He has no pressure on him. He told me before the game: ‘I’m just going out there and having fun, I have nothing to lose. I’m just blessed to play now. “Once I saw that he had that attitude, I knew, ‘OK, good day Keion.’ And he has. ‘
As for Brooks, he was confident in his ability to produce in his debut, and blamed Kentucky power coach Rob Harris for keeping him in game form while his calf injury kept him out of competition.
“I have always believed in my ability to come back and play well. “I was constantly working and staying in good shape,” Brooks said. A big shout out to coach Rob Harris, our strength coach. I do not like to call him that, he is so much more than that. Not only did he do a good job, but I spent a lot of time with him, which is why he was always in my ear to stay positive. The conversations we had, he really helped me go through what I was going through. ”
Above all, out of production, Brooks was only happy to be the leader for a team that has been desperate for one since the start of the season. He wanted to bring a positive, infectious attitude to the floor, and that fired his teammates.
‘You hit the nail on the head, my leadership. I’m just trying to bring energy and hopefully my energy is contagious to my teammates, ”Brooks said. ‘They also contributed very well to me the whole time I was hurt. I did not want to go there and let them down, not play to their standard, not as engaged as they are, not having as much energy as they would do. It works both ways.
“My leadership was very dependent on them and allowed me to be a leader. It went well tonight. ”