Justin Edwards, who chose Kentucky over Tennessee, has extra motivation against Vols

Justin Edwards‘ college recruitment in high school came down to a pair of Southeastern Conference programs: the Kentucky Wildcats and Tennessee Volunteers. Considered the No. 2 overall class of 2023 prospect out of Philadelphia (PA) Imhotep, the 6-foot-8 wing ultimately landed in Lexington, but it was a tight race down the stretch.

At one point late in the recruiting process, it felt like Rick Barnes and the Vols were the frontrunner. That is until John Calipari put on the full-court press. Once the UK head coach took over Edwards’ recruitment, the tides shifted fully toward the ‘Cats. Edwards has been anti-Tennessee ever since. It was a significant win for Kentucky on the trail and one that helped craft the country’s top-ranked recruiting class.

Unfortunately, Edwards’ freshman season in Lexington hasn’t gone according to plan so far. He’s averaging just 7.7 points and 3.7 rebounds in 21.8 minutes per game on 44.6 percent shooting. But there is still time left in the season to reconcile that. And there is no better opportunity to do so than by showing out against the program he nearly committed to a year and a half ago.

No. 5 Tennessee comes to Rupp Arena on Saturday night (8:30 p.m. EST) as No. 10 Kentucky hosts the Volunteers for a primetime showdown on ESPN. Edwards sat out the Wildcats’ most recent contest — a tough loss at home to Florida on Wednesday — but he’s on the path to return tonight against Tennessee. He’s using the matchup as fuel to hopefully get himself on track.

“Yeah it’s motivating,” Edwards told reporters on Friday. “Even though it’s a little rivalry game, it means a little bit more to me just off of the fact that I chose Kentucky over them. They’re probably gonna try to come out to try to be more aggressive with me. I’m just excited to see how it plays out.”

A quad injury Edwards suffered last week during a five-on-five scrimmage in practice has set him back a bit. He was limited to nine minutes this time last week on the road against Arkansas. That same issue kept him out entirely against Florida. But he’s getting back to where he was prior to the injury and explained during Friday’s press conference that he’ll likely give it a go on Saturday.

If there was ever a time for Edwards to break out and perform like the five-star prospect he was out of high school, tonight against Tennessee in front of a packed Rupp Arena crowd is it.

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