Improved Attitude Lifting Akhator to New Heights

In the world of sports, sometimes things can just go your way. Whether it’s a good bounce or a break that goes in your favor, or a player or team that gets into a great rhythm, there are times when it seems that someone, or some team, can do no wrong.

For the Kentucky women’s basketball team, senior Evelyn Akhator seems to be in one of those stretches right now. On Thursday night in Tuscaloosa, the forward from Lagos, Nigeria, scored a career-high 29 points and grabbed a season-best 15 rebounds. She hit 12-of-14 from (85.7 percent) from the floor while lifting the Wildcats to their first road win of the season, a decisive 71-54 win over the Tide.

So what did Akhator do for an encore? How about notching her 23rd career double-double in just one half of play on Sunday. Akhator took care of that accomplishment early, scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the first 20 minutes in Sunday’s 82-61 pounding of Georgia inside Memorial Coliseum. She finished the game with 24 points and 16 rebounds, and, in the process, gave herself a really good chance of earning at least SEC Player of the Week honors for her performances over the last four days.

“(After last week) Evelyn said she was going to do better, she was going to be a better leader and she was going to work harder,” said Kentucky head coach Matthew Mitchell. “She was not going to let herself get so down and dejected over a missed shot or a foul or some mistake.”

Akhator hit eight-of-11 (72.7 percent) from the floor in the first half in Sunday’s game, continually getting looks close to the basket and converting them into at least two points. She finished the game connecting on 10-of-15 from the field in the game, meaning she made 22-of-29 (75.9 percent) from the floor for the week. She is now hitting 61.2 percent from the field this season.

In Sunday’s game, Akhator scored at least 20 points for the fifth time in her career, with three of those coming in the last eight days. Akhator had 20 points last Sunday against Texas A&M, followed by the 29-point effort on Thursday and Sunday’s 24-point game.

Akhator heeded her coach’s advice after meeting with Mitchell early last week.

“I had a meeting with Coach Mitchell, everybody does, and he told me that I need to step up my energy and that I lost my mental focus,” Akhator said. “I think that my mental focus (is important) and also, in practice, we are playing. It all started in practice, playing as a team and we just went at it against our practice players and that gave us confidence for the game.”  

Mitchell saw the change in his senior almost immediately after last Sunday’s disappointing loss to Texas A&M.

“She started out early in the week trying to have a great attitude and a great spirit of leadership,” Mitchell said. “I think it was more of her mental outlook and her emotional stability that allowed her to be in rhythm and she looks a little more calm out there, and I think a lot of it is her attitude.”

In her meeting with Mitchell, Akhator made a promise to her head coach.

“I promised him that I would bring the energy no matter what happens in the game,” she said. “I would use speed and post up – that was my promise.”

That promise has led to back-to-back huge games from Akhator, which has boosted the Wildcats when they needed it most. If Akhator can continue to bring the energy, as well as the scoring and rebounding, the sky is the limit for this Kentucky team.