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Justin Edwards talks about mother’s impact on his basketball career

On3 imageby:Sam Gillenwater•07/18/23•

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Kentucky F Justin Edwards
Chet White | UK Athletics

Justin Edwards is a heck of a basketball player in his own right. However, his mother’s own career and influence helped make him the player that he is today.

Edwards spoke about how his mother, Ebony Twiggs, affected his development while Kentucky was in Canada for the GLOBL Jam, an event in which they took home the gold medal in. He said some tough love from her throughout his high school career continued to push him to get better.

“She’s real tough on me. So, like, she would never tell me that I played good. It pushed me to do better,” said Edwards. “She probably told me I played good like five times my whole high school career. I actually appreciate her for that because it made me work harder.”

Edwards’ mother came out of Philadelphia, just like him, from high school. They both ended up as the Most Valuable Player after their respective teams won the city’s public league championship. Then, after playing in college, her professional landed her a career in Portugal.

From there, whatever she did to raise Edwards very clearly worked, tough love or not. While at Imhotep Institute, he averaged 17.9 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Over time, he became the No. 2 prospect in 2023, according to On3’s Industry Ranking, as well as a highly decorated recruit that took part in several event such as the McDonald’s All-American Game.

While in Toronto, Edwards averaged 14.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.8 steals per game in just about 25 minutes of action a night.

There are a lot of reasons why Edwards is as highly-touted as he is. Even so, it’s his mother’s influence on him that has played a role as much as anything in leading to his growth as a player.

Kentucky wins gold medal, goes undefeated in GLOBL Jam

No one knew what to expect of Kentucky when they arrived to play in the GLOBL Jam this week. Now, as they leave Toronto, the program has given the Big Blue Nation a lot to be excited about while also picking up some hardware for themselves.

Kentucky went 4-0 over a quartet of contests while north of the border this past week. That includes an 89-72 victory over Canada in the gold medal match on Sunday night inside the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

After the win for Kentucky, their second over the Canadians this week, John Calipari spoke with SportsNet on the court. He said what impressed him the most was their control after only being together for a short time. He also loved their individual abilities to go out there and, at the end of the day, just be basketball players.

“Our average age is 19. Most of the guys in here are a little bit older. And for them to have the poise when the moment hit?,” said Calipari. “When Canada made their run? All of a sudden Antonio (Reeves) bangs a three, Tre (Mitchell) gets a tip-in, DJ (Wagner) gets a three. I mean just seeing it? I’ve got a bunch of kids that play basketball.”

“This isn’t wrestling, it’s not the decathlon, it’s not a track meet. It’s basketball. And they’re skilled,” Calipari said. “So you might look at them and say they’re not very big, they’re skinny. (But) they’re basketball players.”