By LARRY VAUGHT
Despite playing with a broken nose in the SEC Tournament last week, freshman point guard Jada Walker has continued to get better and was a big part of UK’s late-season run that got the Cats into the NCAA Tournament on 10-game win streak after they beat Tennessee to win the SEC Tournament title for the first time since 1982.“She’s grown up, and I said all year Jada is a fearless competitor. She wants to win. She has that dog mentality, and I told her before we left Lexington (for the SEC Tournament), you are no longer a freshman. You have played enough minutes to be a veteran point guard,” Kentucky coach Kyra Elzy said at the SEC Tournament.“The game has slowed down for her. Her confidence wavered early on. When you are the lone freshman and you are looking around at the other guards at a Rhyne Howard, a Robyn Benton and Jazmine, and she’s, like, ‘Coach, they know how to do all of these things.’ I was, like, yes, they’re basically seniors in college, and you are a freshman.“So she’s had to learn, but she’s been baptized by fire, but she has answered the challenge.”Elzy said putting pressure on Walker early helped her mature and get past her “freshman moments she had to cry about.” Eventually the game slowed down for Walker.“She knows when to push now and when to bring it out, what’s a good shot, what’s a bad shot, and as you are a freshman, just learning the intricate details of your offensive system and your defensive system, it is a lot,” Elzy said. “She is a student of the game. She wants to learn. She wants to get better, and it has helped her prepare her for now.”Walker admits her confidence has improved the more she played, especially against SEC teams.“I got more comfortable with the different types of teams and physicality,” Walker said.She had 21 points on 7-for-12 shooting, eight rebounds and two assists against Mississippi State and 16 points, six rebounds and two assists against Tennessee. However, she was a combined 2-for-10 from the field in wins over LSU and South Carolina.“But she kept fighting and playing even when she was not making shots and that’s what we had to have,” Elzy said.* * *