‘Basketball is everything.’ Family ties explain Kentucky’s belief in EJ Montgomery.

When asked the importance the family placed on basketball when EJ Montgomery was growing up, the Kentucky player’s father was succinct.

“Basketball is everything,” Efrem Montgomery said.

Both Efrem and his wife, Glenda, played college basketball for North Carolina Central. Their daughters, Brittni and Brandy, also played college basketball. They are now playing professionally in Australia and Greece.

Staples of the family dinner were more likely to be the pick-and-roll rather than macaroni and cheese. Efrem and Glenda — who coached together on the junior-college level with Glenda as the head coach — would use salt and pepper shakers to diagram plays or show on-court actions.

“Oh yeah, there was a lot of that going on throughout the household,” Efrem said. “A lot of teaching. A lot of telling them what they should and shouldn’t have done after a game. We tried not to coach too much from the stands. But once the games were over, we’d tell them what they should and shouldn’t have done.”

In speaking to reporters at the Southeastern Conference’s Media Day on Wednesday, EJ Montgomery said his earliest basketball memory is being a fourth-grader begging his parents to let him play on an AAU team. But according to Glenda, his attachment to basketball goes back much further.

“My mom told me when I first started walking, I was chasing a basketball,” he said.

Losing to sisters

As a child, EJ played against his older sisters. He did not dominate, maybe because Brandy became good enough to score 1,644 points for Auburn. Brittni played two seasons for Virginia Tech before transferring to Central Florida, where she twice set single-game records of 24 rebounds.

“At an early age, it was very bad for me,” EJ said of playing against his sisters. “I didn’t win many games. A lot of times crying to my parents. As I got older, it stopped. I started to win, and they stopped playing me.”

EJ said the dinner table strategy sessions and competition against his sisters sharpened his basketball IQ. “Definitely helped me a lot,” he said. “Every day we talked about basketball (and) watched basketball.”

When asked who Brandy rooted for when Kentucky played Auburn in the Elite Eight last spring, EJ smiled and said, “She was definitely rooting for me or we were going to have some problems.”

EJ originally committed to Auburn. When the Tigers’ program become embroiled in an ongoing FBI investigation of corruption in college basketball recruiting, he de-committed. Auburn’s loss became Kentucky’s gain.

Efrem described his son’s freshman season for Kentucky as “a learning curve.” He learned from practice competition against PJ Washington and Reid Travis. In games, he averaged 15.1 minutes, 3.8 points and 4.1 rebounds.

“I think he learned a lot being behind those guys,” Efrem said. “He didn’t get a chance to show it on the floor. But when you’re behind two All-Americans like that, you learn so much. He will get a chance to display it this year.

“I think everybody will see the results from what he learned, and there’s a big jump from last year to this year.”

PJ Story Part 2?

Of course, Washington enjoyed such a night-and-day reinvention as a UK player. After a freshman season in which he averaged 10.8 points, Washington became UK’s leading scorer as a sophomore and a lottery pick in this year’s NBA Draft.

UK Coach John Calipari has held out that example as a model for Montgomery.

Larry Thompson, who coached Montgomery in his final season of high school, is a believer. He described Montgomery’s 2019-20 season as the “PJ Washington Story Part 2.”

“I just think he has that kind of ability,” Thompson said. “And having a year under his belt at that level can only help one get better and be ready for Year 2. It can be PJ Washington-like.”

Calipari was asked Wednesday to compare the developments of Montgomery and Washington at the preseasons of their sophomore seasons.

“Both came back way better physically and (with) a better mindset,” Calipari said. “PJ, he got in way better shape. Then his aggressiveness he naturally played with took over. EJ is in way better shape. But he’s not the physical player that PJ is.”

Calipari said he wanted more consistent offense from Montgomery. The UK coach also spoke of Montgomery needing to initiate contact rather than react to an opponent’s physical play.”

Voters in a media poll are believers. Montgomery was voted to the All-SEC Second Team this week.

“It’s good,” Montgomery said. “It means I’m improving. I’ve just got to keep improving.”

Important upcoming dates

Oct. 18: Blue-White Game

Oct. 27: Exhibition opener vs. Georgetown College

Nov. 1: Exhibition vs. Kentucky State

Nov. 5: Season opener vs. Michigan State

This story was originally published October 16, 2019 at 8:05 PM.