Brooks’ Breakout Continues in Win over Tech
Things haven’t always been easy for Keion Brooks Jr. this season.
He’s had to find his feet and his role in his true freshman season, but his approach never changes. Brooks has kept his head down and done what has been asked of him.
Now he’s beginning to reap the rewards.
“I don’t think anything’s changed,” Brooks said. “I’m just continuing to stay with my work, relying on the work I put in. Eventually I was going to break through and I feel like now is a good time to start doing that.”
Brooks scored in double figures for the second straight game, chipping in 10 important points as No. 8/9 Kentucky (8-1) fended off Georgia Tech (4-4) in Rupp Arena, 67-53. He made 4-of-7 field goals and added four rebounds, a block and a steal.
Even more notable than his stats was the fact that Brooks played a career-high 26 minutes. That made him a key member of what amounted a seven-man rotation, with Kahlil Whitney and Johnny Juzang playing a combined 11 minutes as the eighth and ninth men. A testament to the belief John Calipari is building in him, Brooks was on the floor for the entirety of the final 7:37.
The reason for that belief is simple.
“He’s fighting,” Coach Cal said.
Calipari’s fight and finish refrain has become commonplace these last two weeks, but don’t think for a second Brooks is tiring of hearing it. In fact, its straightforwardness might be part of what’s fueling Brooks’ breakout.
“It doesn’t get any simpler than that,” Brooks said. “He doesn’t care about you making or missing shots or the other stuff. As long as you’re out there fighting and you’re trying to finish the game he’s going to put you out there.”
Brooks showed his fight most clearly in taking on the assignment of guarding Georgia Tech’s Moses Wright. Though the junior forward might have had two inches and 25 pounds on him, Brooks didn’t back down from the challenge.
“He’s a skilled basketball player,” Calipari said. “I even saw him stay in front of people where we were getting beat on the dribble. (Wright) beat us on the dribble with everybody else who played him and he didn’t get around Keion. I was proud of him.”
That’s a far cry from early in the season, when defense was part of what was keeping Brooks from playing more minutes. All part of the journey.
“I can’t lie to you, it’s difficult at times,” Brooks said. “Because you’re just so used to being able to dominate all the time. Now people are a lot better than what you’re used to and it’s a learning curve, especially being so young. You have to adjust to the speed of the game, the physicality.”
Brooks is by no means a finished product. He has work ahead, not to mention – almost certainly – more bumps in the road.
“The only way these kids get better: They have to fail,” Calipari said. “They have to have adversity thrown at them. It’s the only way you grow.”
The challenge for Brooks is to embrace that fact. Signs on that front are positive.
“It’s a lot that goes on the college basketball floor that you come in a freshman that you wouldn’t expect or you wouldn’t be used to,” Brooks said. “The learning curve was difficult, but I feel like I’m starting to find my groove.”
