Kentucky's Justin Edwards receives technical foul for gesture toward Louisville player

Justin Edwards didn’t hesitate to pour a little extra salt in Louisville’s wounds. After scoring over a UL defender in Kentucky’s 95-76 victory over the Cardinals, the freshman small forward lifted his hand, signaling the opposing player was too small.

While Kentucky fans may have loved the heated antics, the referees did not. Edwards received a technical foul for his actions and was subsequently taken out of the game by UK head coach John Calipari.

Fortunately for Edwards, a technical foul can’t erase an impressive performance. Edwards finished the game with 13 points, seven rebounds and two steals while shooting 6-10 from the field.

Justin Edwards just received a technical for this hand gesture, calling his defender small… pic.twitter.com/z3jQzTfRhG

— Tristan Pharis (@TristanUda) December 22, 2023

Edwards has only scored more than 13 points once this season when he tallied 16 points in Kentucky’s win over Texas A&M Commerce on Nov. 10. Edwards hasn’t always lived up to preseason expectations this year.

Justin Edwards gradually finds his footing

The five-star freshman was the No. 2 player in the 2024 recruiting cycle, according to On3 Industry Rankings. Many experts projected Edwards as a top-five pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.

Nonetheless, Edwards entered Thursday night only averaging 9.6 points and 4.4 rebounds per game while shooting 45.1% from the field and 25% from 3-point range. Despite Edwards’ slow start this season, Kentucky’s staff hasn’t lost faith in the blossoming star.

“I think you guys look at Justin different than we do,” Kentucky assistant coach Bruiser Flint said on Dec. 14. “I always tell him you’re a Swiss Army knife. You can do a little bit of everything. That doesn’t mean you have to score 20 (points). Your play is great and (so is) your versatility. 

“We got on him about his defense, that was one of the things that we thought he was lacking. You should be a better defensive player, and he played better at Penn. Now he fouled, so he didn’t play as much. But I don’t look at Justin and say well he should be this type of scorer.”

Flint sees all Edwards brings to the court that fans might overlook.

“When I look at Justin, I look at him go rebound, I look at him defend, he makes good passes, get out in transition. I look at his total box score and not just his points. I want to see him get rebounds, I want to see him get assists, I want to see him play good against the other team’s forward that we put him on, or guard that we put him on. It’s not necessarily his total points, I look at his box score in general.”