Justin Edwards is giving Kentucky another quality offensive option

Justin Edwards was a major recruiting win for John Calipari and the rest of the Kentucky coaching staff in the 2023 cycle. But it has taken some time for the five-star wing to find his footing at the college level. That is certainly no longer the case.

In the 111-102 win over Arkansas on Saturday afternoon at Rupp Arena, Edwards again gave the Wildcats some excellent play. The true freshman finished the game with 10 points on four field goal attempts to go along with three steals. The young player is playing with much more confidence and that is showing up in the stat sheet.

“What about what Justin Edwards did today?” Calipari said postgame. “Now think about it. I looked at him and said, ‘Are you OK to go?’ ‘Yeah, I’m good.’ He showed unbelievable confidence in himself. And it didn’t come from me. The kid lives in the gym. That pull-up, that 3, I mean that was the game. And I hadn’t played him for a lot of minutes.”

Edwards is now shooting 48.3 percent from three in SEC play. The 6-foot-8 forward is now 8 of 10 from three-point range over the last four games. Edwards has made five consecutive treys in Rupp Arena since missing his only attempt in a 75-63 win over Ole Miss on Feb. 13. Kentucky has another offensive weapon who is showing up in big moments.

The freshman had a huge moment against Alabama with 29 points on 10 field goal attempts but backed that up with eight points in the final five minutes of a close game against Arkansas. Justin Edwards has not reached the 30 minutes played threshold since the loss to UNC Wilmington on Dec. 2, but the rookie is giving the Wildcats yet another offensive option.

Entering the last week of the regular season, Edwards is averaging 8.7 points 3.4 rebounds, and is shooting 49.2 percent from the floor. The true freshman is on a hot shooting run that continued on Saturday. If it continues, Kentucky is going to be hard to stop over the next month.