UK Basketball’s Keion Brooks Jr. medically cleared to return

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WYMT) - University of Kentucky Men’s Basketball sophomore forward Keion Brooks Jr. has been medically cleared to return to the court, according to a Thursday night release from UK Athletics. He had missed the first nine games of the season due to a left leg injury.

Brooks is the only returning scholarship player from the 2019-20 basketball season.

He will be in uniform Saturday in Kentucky’s road game against Florida and will be available to play.

Brooks had been conditioning and participating in non-contact drills with the team, but had not fully practiced until Thursday.

“I met with him today and it was a little bit emotional,” UK head coach John Calipari said. “We have all been patient with this but obviously we all wanted Keion out there with us, no one more so than him. Now he is.”

Brooks averaged 4.5 points and 3.2 rebounds per game in 31 games in the 2019-20 season, in which he started six games. He shot 47.2%, blocked 13 shots and had 11 steals.

“Here’s the kind of person and teammate Keion is: When he and I talked about how he would fit in with what we’ve been doing as a team, his comment was, ‘Coach, I really trust you. I’ll do whatever this team needs me to do.’ Pretty amazing stuff when you think about this is someone who came back as the leader of our team and the only guy who played minutes with us a season ago. All Keion cares about is trying help this team win,” said Calipari.

Kentucky has gone just 3-6 this season without Brooks, with wins over Morehead State, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt. Kentucky travels to Gainesville, FL to take on the Florida Gators on Saturday afternoon.

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