‘Definitely nerve-racking.’ Kentucky’s newest transfer thinks she found right fit.

University of Kentucky women’s basketball coach Matthew Mitchell said after last season that he was looking to the NCAA’s transfer portal to add height to his roster.

He might have found what he was looking for this week when he added the Wildcats’ third transfer this offseason in 6-foot-4 Maryland center Olivia Owens.

Owens, who struggled to get on the court for the Terrapins despite arriving out of Niskayuna, N.Y., as a highly touted recruit, thinks she found something as well.

“With Kentucky, I just felt like in talking to the coaches that there was a sense of comfortability,” Owens told The Daily Gazette of Schenectady, N.Y., on Tuesday. “I felt like some of the things I needed as a player were things they could offer.”

Owens was ranked the No. 26 player in the recruiting class of 2018 by All Star Girls Report and No. 34 by ESPN, which rated her the nation’s No. 5 post player. She was a nominee for the McDonald’s All-America Team.

Owens appeared in only 16 games as a freshman at Maryland, consistently one of the nation’s top programs. She averaged 1.5 points and 1.3 rebounds per game.

Owens had to sit out all of the 2019-20 season because of a battle with mononucleosis. She will have three seasons of eligibility at Kentucky but, just like UK’s two other transfers this offseason, will have to sit out the 2020-21 season unless granted a waiver by the NCAA to play immediately.

“We are so excited that Olivia has chosen to be a Kentucky Wildcat and cannot wait to get her on campus and working with our team and staff,” Mitchell said in a news release. “She obviously has a lot of intangibles that you cannot teach, like elite size and strength in the post, which is going to help us tremendously. Our staff enjoyed getting to know her and her family through this process and are eager for that relationship to grow in the future. I really like how our roster has come together and I’m looking forward to getting the team back on campus again soon.”

Owens, who chose Maryland over Florida State, Miami, Minnesota and Stanford coming out of high school, said interest was also high when she entered the NCAA transfer portal in March.

“It was definitely nerve-racking,” Owens told The Daily Gazette. “But the level of interest I received was truly a blessing.”

In April, UK announced that starting guards from two of its Southeastern Conference rivals would be joining the Wildcats.

Jazmine Massengill, who started 30 of 31 games for Tennessee in 2019-20, is coming to Lexington. So too is Auburn guard Robyn Benton, who averaged 10.1 points last season.

With Owens, Massengill and Benton coming on board, Kentucky and Mitchell have now added eight transfers from other Division I schools since several players departed the UK program in a troubling flurry of transfers in 2016.

“We’ve had great success over the years welcoming people into the program looking for a fresh start,” Mitchell told the Herald-Leader’s Mark Story in April. “Outside of 2016, we’ve usually enjoyed (more) welcoming players in than seeing them leave.”

At the time, Mitchell described the type of player he was seeking to fill out his frontcourt.

“We just want to continue to seek out height that fits our style,” Mitchell said. “We’re always looking for a taller player that is mobile and aggressive, and can run and has some speed. They don’t have to be an Olympic sprinter, but we need them to run as fast as they can run, move laterally and defend all over the floor.”

Is Owens a fit for the Wildcats? ESPN’s profile of Owens as a recruit described her this way:

“Strong, physical low-post performer with interior footwork, powers to rim with efficiency; mobile in transition; emerging face-up attack; high motor effort on glass; among the elite post prospects in the class of 2018.”

With the additions of Owens, Benton and Massengill, the Wildcats now have six players entering the program next season. They’ll join McDonald’s All-American Treasure Hunt, along with Sacred Heart guard Erin Toller and Niya Leveretter, a 6-foot-3 forward from South Carolina.

Three other players, who were on the roster last season but unable to play because of injuries or transfer rules, will be ready to take the floor in 2020-21.

Guard Kameron Roach tore her Achilles at the end of her sophomore season and used last year to rehabilitate and regain strength. Post player Deasia Merrill missed all of last season after sustaining a knee injury in the preseason. Also, 2019 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Dre’una Edwards becomes eligible after transferring from Utah and sitting out last season.

Kentucky went 22-8 last season, finishing tied for third in the SEC. The Wildcats were ranked No. 12 in ESPN’s projections for next season.

This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 8:09 AM.