Justin Edwards never lost confidence in himself even when others might have this season. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Former Kentucky All-American Jack Givens sounded like a proud father after freshman Justin Edwards scored 28 points on perfect 10-for-10 shooting in a recent win over Alabama.
“He is finally coming along at the rate we all thought he would. I like the fact he was active and fought for rebounds. He didn’t settle for jump shots,” Givens said. “A lot of good things from Justin in this game. One of those games he can grow from and nobody has worked harder to make it happen.”
Kentucky assistant coach Chin Coleman said the “tireless” work Edwards put in the last few months was obvious to everyone on the team.
“He is here late at night putting in work. It was just a matter of time before he had a breakout and it came at the right time,” Coleman said. “I am happy for a kid like that who was able to take the good with the bad.
“He gets down but never lets it hold him down. He relied on his training and drew confidence from all the work he put in.”
Edwards, like a lot of highly-recruited UK freshmen, came into college with huge expectations put on him by recruiting analysts, fans and media.
“I am sure it was kind of troublesome for him to try and live up to that and hear all the noise. Hear from all the writers and all that stuff,” Coleman said. “You just have to keep your poise.
“We keep talking to our guys about feeding the positive and drowning out the negative. As long as you keep the positive voice at the podium you can have a breakthrough like that.”
Edwards is averaging 8.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game going into Saturday’s matchup at Tennessee. He’s showing 49.2 percent overall, 36.6 from 3 and 77.1 at the foul line.
6 Responses
Thanks to Reed he got some help on how to block out the Whiners.
Jimmy! Jimmy!! You need to change your "napkin"! Of the 9 games that we lost while Edwards was "learning", how many of those would we have won if a more capable guy had been playing? Oh, I forgot…this is Calipari’s wayward school for not quite ready NBA wannabes. It has only cost the university an SEC championship and title, not to mention our upcoming early exit from the Dance. SQUEAL JIMMY SQUEAL!!!!
Why Jimmy gotta squeal? Your doing it all the squealing anyways!!
Barry P, it must be miserable living in your world. You are the most negative UK fan on the planet. I am sure this carries over to every aspect in your daily life, and for that, I truly feel sorry for you. While 99.99999% of us are enjoying this incredibly fun season, all you see is what if’s and misery. BBN please say a prayer for Barry. Go Cats!!!
Dopey David, 80% of BBN feels the same way I do. You Calipari azzkissing rah rahs are the only ones enjoying us being Caliparied AGAIN! You simpletons are elated just to see us win a game once in a while. Kentucky wins championships, at least we did before the fraud arrived.
You are 100% wrong about everything you just said. If you are such a miserable person, that you can not enjoy this incredible season, then that is on you. UK is 2nd all time in championships and we have 8. It is VERY hard to win a ship and it takes a lot of luck to win a ship. According to you, we should only be happy winning a ship every other year. Go ahead and wallow in your misery while the rest of us enjoy this amazing team. Go Cats!!!