Justin Edwards leads Kentucky to 45-39 halftime lead in GLOBL Jam final
Justin Edwards slowly found his footing over the course of Kentucky’s time playing in the GLOBL Jam this week in Toronto. Now, in the gold medal matchup against Canada, UK’s top-ranked freshman has willed them to a first-half lead.
Edwards stuffed the stat sheet in the first 20 minutes with 17 points (7-11 FG, 2-4 from three), four rebounds, two assists, a steal, and a block. That was a major driving force for the Wildcats as they took a six-point lead over the Canadians into the break.
In over 20 minutes per game in the first three contests, Edwards averaged 11.7 points on 33.7% shooting from the field and 19.3% from three. He also put up 6.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and two steals a game for the Wildcats.
Edwards comes to Lexington as the No. 2 overall recruit in the 2023 cycle, according to On3’s Industry Ranking, out of Imhotep Institute in Philadelphia. Those rankings had him rated as the No. 1 small forward in the class and the top player out of Pennsylvania.
Calipari shares value of playing summer basketball vs. opponents
Kentucky coach John Calipari believes there is a lot for his team to learn by playing in summer basketball games. That’s why for the past two seasons, he’s found ways to make that happen for the Wildcats.
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Last year, the team took a trip to the Bahamas to play four games against teams from around the world. This week, Kentucky is one of the teams participating in the GLOBL Jam Tournament in Toronto. There they’ve so far gone 3-0 and will compete for the championship on Sunday.
Following a 104-92 victory against Team Africa (BAL Select) on Saturday, Calipari opened up on the value of summer basketball games while also comparing this year’s trip to last offseason’s.
“Last year was totally just team-building,” he said. “The teams there, we were gonna beat by 30. So it was all team-building. Basketball stuff, I don’t think it really did much. This is real teams being coached. They’re all 23, 22. They’re older players. We have young players. Our average age is probably 19. Maybe the youngest team in the country. To come here and their fans, this isn’t like an empty gym. Then again, wherever if play, the Bahamas, if we played in China, there would be 500 people there somehow.”