Jordan Burks says Kentucky expects to win all games in Toronto

The Kentucky Men’s Basketball team travels to Toronto, Ontario, Canada to participate in the 2023 GLOBL JAM, which takes place next week at Toronto’s Mattamy Athletic Centre.

Wildcats freshman Jordan Burks, who previously committed to Ole Miss, discussed the upcoming trip and labeled his expectations the only way he knows how:

“My expectation is to win all of the games,” Burks told reporters. “We have to work together and win. Winning is key. If we win, we all get to eat. … I want to win the national championship. I want to win games [with this group], I want to see everyone happy. It’s a team sport, it’s not just yourself.”

Burkes knows what it takes to play winning basketball — after all, he was Overtime Elite’s top scorer one year ago. The 6-foot-9 incoming freshman averaged 27.1 points per contest on 46.7% shooting with 7.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.4 steals for OTE during the 2022-23 season.

He won’t average the same numbers in Lexington, as the success of head coach John Calipari’s system is based on team production rather than individual — but he is expected to be a viable scoring option on the wing for the Wildcats this season.

Even though he heads to UK knowing he won’t be scoring 25 points a game, the partnership was a “no-brainer,” for Burks.

Despite his success on the OTE circuit, he is ranked as a four-star recruit, per the 2023 On3 Industry Rankings, a proprietary algorithm that compiles ratings and rankings from all four primary recruiting media services. He is On3’s No. 102 overall recruit and No. 23 small forward in the class.

He joins an incoming class that features three Five-Star Plus+ recruits in Justin Edwards, Aaron Bradshaw and DJ Wagner Jr., as well as four-stars Robert Dillingham and Reed Sheppard. West Virginia transfer Tre Mitchell also joined the team several weeks ago to cap off the new-look Cats’ roster in 2023.

The group came together just in time for the international trip, as Kentucky’s games are scheduled between July 12-16.

It will be UK’s second trip to Canada under Calipari and the fifth time they’ve gone international. The Wildcats have played each of their last three trips in the Bahamas, including last summer when the Cats went undefeated at the Baha Mar resort last August.