With star big man Jayden Quaintance sidelined heading into the season, Kentucky will need Brandon Garrison and Malachi Moreno to step up and provide quality minutes down low as he continues to work his way back onto the court. For Garrison, he’s looking to become one of the leaders of the team, especially being one of the few who have played under Mark Pope before. For Moreno, he’s looking to provide quality minutes off the bench.

Mark Pope was at SEC Media Days on Tuesday, where he spoke about the progress the two have made, battling against each other every day in practice. It’s given them the extra reps needed to produce at a high level.

“They’re taking full advantage of it,” Pope said. “In our in our most recent scrimmage, Brandon Garrison, he was the fastest guy up and down the floor. It was unbelievable what he’s doing. So he’s actually taken more advantage of every single opportunity rep right now because he’s got himself in such great shape. And Malachi Moreno is making an incredible impact right now. He’s in the 80s field goal percentage in live play, five on five for us right now. He’s unbelievable on a glass, his ability to rim protect outside of his area. He is one of those guys that he does things on the floor to kind of shake your head and be like, I didn’t actually know that that’s the guy I recruited a year ago, he’s been such an impactful freshman for us so far in training camp. And those two get it, they’re there. They love each other right now because they are pushing each other so hard, and it’s a fist fight every day, and they’re both getting better because of it.”

Over the offseason, Garrison has worked to make a number of improvements, but along with his conditioning, as Pope noted, he has also worked all summer on his decision-making, which will be crucial to becoming more efficient and taking on that bigger role that will be asked of him, and he talked about his progress over the summer at UK Media Day last week. Moreno has been a bit of a surprise in practices, as Pope has said he is one of the best rebounders on the team, as well as shooting the ball really well from the field.

Those two will be leaned on heavily in the frontcourt, especially early this season as Quaintance works his way back.