Kentucky Preparing for "Lethal, Explosive" Belmont

In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, teams seeded higher expect to have easy opening-round games. For example, as a three seed last season, Kentucky blasted UNC-Asheville 85-31 in the first round at Memorial Coliseum.

But as far as the 2017 Wildcats are concerned, head coach Matthew Mitchell knows that his team has gotten a much tougher draw. And he hopes his team does not overlook 13th-seeded Belmont on Friday at noon in Memorial Coliseum.

“They are an explosive offensive team,” Mitchell said of his team’s Friday opponent. “When you average 80 points per game, that is impressive. They can score. They are lethal behind the 3-point line.”

The Bruins (27-5) won the Ohio Valley Conference regular season title, winning all 16 of their regular season conference games. They followed that up by winning three straight games, all by at least 15 points, in the OVC Tournament to claim the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. 

Belmont has won 21 straight games and 25 of its last 26. The Bruins have not lost a game in this calendar year. Belmont’s last loss came on December 14 when Minnesota edged the Bruins 75-74 in Minneapolis. 

Mitchell knows that his team cannot afford to look ahead to a potential matchup with Ohio State or Western Kentucky on Sunday.

“They (Belmont) do a bunch of different things that are hard to prepare for in a couple of days,” Mitchell said of Belmont. “But we’ve really got to rely on what we’ve valued all year when we’ve been at our best. We have to hustle, hustle, hustle (Friday).”

Belmont is especially potent behind the three-point arc. Every Belmont player has hit at least one three-pointer this season, and the Bruins shoot 37.1 percent behind the arc as a team. 

“If we’re open and our players feel good about it, then we can take it,” Belmont head coach Cameron Newbauer said. “I’d rather have a deep 3 that someone feels good about with a chance to go in, offensive rebound and make a play off of it as opposed to a silly turnover or something. They do have the confidence and the freedom to shoot pretty much whenever they want.”

Belmont has gotten the attention of the Kentucky players.

“You’ve got to respect them for what they’ve done,” said UK senior Makayla Epps. “Winning 25 of their last 26 is really impressive and they made it to the tournament.  It’s always those underdog teams that want to be the upset team, so I know they’re going to come in here and fight hard because if they lose, it’s their last game of the season, too.”

Kentucky will have to guard against Belmont’s three-point shooting. But the Bruins will also have to figure out a way to defend Wildcat standouts Epps and Evelyn Akhator. Newbauer is especially impressed with the Wildcats’ dynamic duo.

“You’re talking about a player in Evelyn Akhator, who if you don’t look at the numbers and you see that she’s second team All-SEC, it makes absolutely no sense,” Newbauer said. “If you look at the numbers, this forward that they have averages, basically, 17 points per game, 11 rebounds per game, six free throws per game, four offensive rebounds per game, and that’s not the most impressive stat. The most impressive stat is 61 percent from the floor and she’s not a first-team All-SEC player.” 

“Don’t forget about Makayla Epps – one of the best, if not the best, point guards in the country,” Newbauer said. “I have not seen another player – maybe Kelsey Plum – that can absolutely take over a game like she can, scoring in a multitude of ways.”

Epps, in fact, averages 17.2 points per game this season and leads the team with 112 assists. The Lebanon, Kentucky, native is the fifth-leading scorer in school history. She needs 59 points in the NCAA Tournament to pass Leslie Nichols for fourth place on the UK career scoring list.

Akhator, the 6-3 senior from Lagos, Nigeria, scores 15.8 points per contest, while grabbing a team-high 10.5 rebounds per game. Despite playing just two seasons for Kentucky, Akhator is fourth on the school’s career double-doubles list with 29. Victoria Dunlap currently sits in third place with 31 career double-doubles.

For Belmont, Friday’s game provides a chance at a program-defining victory. And for Kentucky, the game provides a tough first-round opponent that will be no pushover.