Kentucky basketball: Isaiah Jackson named SEC Freshman of the week

Kentucky basketball’s Isaiah Jackson has been named the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week after his impressive performances have propelled the Wildcats on a three-game win streak.

The honor is the first for the 6-foot-10 forward from Pontiac, Michigan

In wins over Vanderbilt and No. 19 Tennesse, Jackson averaged 15.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, and two blocks per game.

Against the Commodores, he pumped in 15 points and narrowly missed on a double-double with nine rebounds in the 82-78 win playing just 20 minutes. From the field, he was a perfect 5 for 5 shooting and 5 of 6 from the foul line.

He followed that with a team-high 16 points, seven boards, and two blocked shots while saddled with foul trouble much of the game against border rival Tennessee. His free throws were pivotal again sinking 8 of 9 in the 70-55 thrashing of the Vols in Knoxville. That was his sixth double-double of the year.

Jackson has taken everything coach John Calipari asks of him and done so with 110-percent effort all game, every game.

While Kentucky will take anything he gives you offensively which is an average of 8 points a game it’s amazing to watch just how hard he works at the defensive end and whoever matches up with him is in for a long exhausting night.

For the season he has rejected 56 shots which rank third in the country in block percentage at 13.2 percent.

https://twitter.com/KentuckyMBB/status/1363681796391641091

Just before the season began Jackson met with the media about what the difference was between high school and Kentucky. It’s obvious he knew from the start what his expectations were and how he hasn’t forgotten that no matter how challenging this season has been.

"“I mean, every day with Coach (John Calipari) is on you or the guy you’re guarding is busting your butt. You just gotta adjust. Competitive wise it’s different at practice. Everything here is full up-and-down speed. There it was—high school could take breaks. Here there’s no room for error or breaks. You can mess up in high school and it’s fine. You can go for a steal and don’t get the steal and end up getting the rebound and the dunk and it’s fine. Here if you do that, Coach is going to be on your butt and the team is going to lose their momentum and stuff like that. I feel like that’s one of the biggest things is the competitive part of everything.”"

Jackson and the Wildcats will be back on the court in a key matchup with Florida this Saturday at 1 pm with Kentucky looking to boost its seeding enter the SEC Tournament right around the corner.