SEC tourney notes: Kentucky’s forwards finding confidence

Usually when Kentucky gets a big win over a ranked team, it’s one of the Cats’ veterans getting praise from the opposing coach.

And while Texas A&M’s Gary Blair acknowledged that junior Makayla Epps makes Kentucky go, she wasn’t the reason the Aggies became the sixth straight team to fall to UK.

“Their inside players killed us,” the Texas A&M coach said. “Not one of my post players could stop one of their post players inside.”

There have been many heroes in each of the No. 13 Cats’ victories as of late, but the wins have started from within.

And UK hopes that continues as the team starts Southeastern Conference Tournament play on Thursday in Jacksonville, Fla., against LSU.

“They’re huge keys to what it is we’re trying to do,” senior guard Janee Thompson said specifically of frontcourt players Alexis Jennings and Evelyn Akhator. “You can see the difference when they’re out there and when they’re not.”

They are a big reason why UK has won its past five games by an average of 15.2 points while outrebounding opponents by 10.2 boards a game.

In that five-game span, Jennings and Akhator have combined for 40 offensive rebounds, the same number as UK’s five opponents combined.

“It’s stuff that needs to be happening for us, especially going into tournament time,” Epps said. “We’re not the biggest team. … If we rebound like that, it’s going to be hard for people to beat us.”

Epps and Thompson have been key players during the Cats’ win streak, but they’ve had help.

Jennings is averaging a team-best 13.6 points and 7.8 rebounds a game while shooting 62.2 percent from the field and has had just five turnovers in the last five games.

“Alexis is really playing the best basketball of her career right now,” Coach Matthew Mitchell said. “She’s really played some great basketball these last six games.”

Akhator, too. Last season’s junior college player of the year is averaging a double-double with 12.4 points on 46.4 percent shooting and 11.2 rebounds in the past five games.

“I was super impressed, have been super impressed with all the post players,” Mitchell said, including Batouly Camara (seven blocks in five games) and Alyssa Rice. “We’ve made a big jump in our post game the last three weeks.”

The biggest change inside for UK has been confidence and focus. There have been far fewer turnovers for a group that was plagued midway through the season by travels and three-second violations.

“They’ve got a better feel for what they’re doing; they’ve got more poise and more patience,” Mitchell said, crediting assistant coach Adeniyi Amadou with the improvement. “People are running a lot of stuff at them, and three or four weeks ago, we just didn’t have a lot of confidence, a lot of poise.”

Mitchell credited UK’s post players for working through their problems, too. “They’re reaping the benefits of some really hard work right now.”

‘What a great year for her’

Makayla Epps joined select company becoming one of just three Kentucky players in the Matthew Mitchell era to be named to the All-SEC First Team multiple times.

Only former UK stars Victoria Dunlap and A’dia Mathies had done it previously.

Epps’ coach couldn’t help but think about how close the star guard came to not even playing at UK last season after some offseason problems.

The junior guard has come a long way both on and off the court since April, Mitchell said.

“What a great year for her,” he said. “We were pretty close to her maybe not being here, and she and I not being able to work together. It’s been a beautiful thing that happened since April of last year.”

Epps goes into the tournament leading the team in points (16.3), having scored in double figures in all but three games this season. The junior guard also averages 4.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists a game.

“She could have been somewhere else not in the SEC and not on the First Team just because of the circumstances last spring,” Mitchell said. “She really stepped up and grew as a person.”

This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "SEC tourney notes: Kentucky’s forwards finding confidence."