Vicky Graff Photo
Kentucky freshman basketball player Jordan Burks grew up in Decatur, Ala., in Alabama territory but his favorite player was a Kentucky basketball player.
“I watched Anthony Davis when I was eight years old,” Burks said. “They won the 2012 championship. I just watched him.
“(Wearing the) Same number as him, 23. I just seen like dang, I want to be a Wildcat. It’s lot of things like Kentucky, Kentucky and then blue is my favorite color, too.”
Obviously John Calipari was Davis’ coach when UK won the national title and now Burks is playing for the same coach after leading Overtime Elite in scoring last season. Still, he was a late signee and many questioned how he would fare at UK.
“He’s like a family man. So he treated me like family and I really respect him,” Burks said of Calipari. “High expectations. He believes in all his players. So whenever he puts his trust in you can’t let him down.
“Like you’re gonna make mistakes, but you gotta give it your all, give me your all and that’s what we all do as a team. I feel like we’re all disciplined. We are unselfish.”
He averaged 4.2 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.0 blocked shots per game while going 8-for-12 from the field in UK’s four wins in Canada. He averaged 17.5 minutes per game.
“It’s been crazy, but it’s all part of the journey. You got to go over a couple of roadblocks to get where you need to go. Get to your destination. So I’m just blessed to be in this situation,” Burks said.
6 Responses
Burks’ performance level in Canada was very impressive, posting the 2nd highest individual efficiency on the team. He will deserve more playing time and more touches based on what he contributed in Canada.
Burks is a fine late addition to this roster.
Burks will develop into a force down low. He reminds me of Willie Cawley stein. Needs some fine tuning, and some hard work but, I think he will be a same type player with better outside shot.
I think Burks is going to turn out to be a steal
Go BIG Blue
Gonna be the best late addition Kentucky has ever had. He’s gonna be a very efficient player one of the best on this freshman team!
Don’t forget Kenneth that a guy named Jamal Murray was pretty good too