Justin Edwards has signature moment as Kentucky basketball records best home win of season

LEXINGTON — Justin Edwards called for the ball behind the 3-point line. Reed Sheppard obliged. Edwards rose and fired away — just as Alabama forward Sam Walters barreled over him. The ball swished through the net moments later.

While his Kentucky teammates helped up Edwards, the crowd at Rupp Arena erupted.

No surprise, Edwards made the subsequent free throw to complete the four-point play: Everything went his — and Kentucky’s — way Saturday. The No. 17 Wildcats walloped the No. 13 Crimson Tide, 117-95, for their signature home victory of the season.

Edwards said it was the first time in his basketball career he'd ever bagged a 3-pointer while drawing a foul. He was so zoned in, he joked afterward, he didn't even bother to celebrate.

"I didn't know how to react," he said.

It was a signature game for the freshman from Philadelphia, who scored a game- and career-high 28 points. He didn’t miss a shot from the field, going 10 for 10. His only misfire came at the free-throw line, where he finished 4 for 5. He added five rebounds and two steals for good measure as the Wildcats (19-8, 9-5 SEC) cruised to a 22-point victory.

It was a game for the record books: Edwards became only the third player in program history to make at least 10 shots without a miss, joining Rodney Dent (12 for 12 in 1993 versus Morehead) and Kenny Walker (11 of 11 in a 1986 NCAA Tournament game against Western Kentucky).

"It feels good to make history," said Edwards, who was the first member of that trio to post a perfect percentage that included 3-pointers. "Always feels good to make history in anything."

It was the type of showing that had been expected from Edwards the second the five-star forward signed with Kentucky. He was considered the crown jewel of the Wildcats' top-ranked 2023 recruiting class.

At the outset of the season, NBA draft analysts had him in the running to potentially be the top overall pick in 2024. But as this season progressed, adversity struck; at one point, he went nearly a month and a half without scoring in double figures. As his struggles continued, he not only fell further and further from lottery pick status, but when ESPN published a draft update earlier this month, it projected him as a second-round selection.

"It's hard to make a first-round case for Edwards," wrote Jeremy Woo, who covers basketball prospects and the NBA draft for ESPN, "who at 20 years old is one of the older freshman prospects in the class. ... There won't be room to hide as the stage gets bigger.

"But at this point in the season, when Edwards hears his name called cannot be safely assumed."

Perhaps Saturday will jump-start a strong end to the 2023-24 campaign for Edwards.

His previous-best performance came 18 days ago, when he had 17 points in a blowout victory at Vanderbilt. But that outing was at the expense of the woeful Commodores, one of the SEC’s worst teams. A program that might be searching for a new coach soon.

Saturday was Alabama.

The conference leader entering the weekend. The nation’s highest-scoring team at 91 points per game. The club that had scored 98 (or more) points in its last three contests. The team with the highest NET ranking (No. 5) in the SEC.

A marquee foe, if you will.

On the biggest stage Kentucky will have at home before the regular season concludes, Edwards delivered.

Put another way, against what had been the league’s best team, Edwards was the best player on the floor.

"He's a guy that's big, strong, physical, and when he goes 4 of 4 from 3, and you don't do a very good job cutting him off — I thought we gave up back cuts," said Alabama coach Nate Oats, whose team fell to 19-8 overall and 11-3 in league play. "We weren't locked in on the defensive end. I didn't have any of these guys ready to go well enough. But when a guy like (Edwards), that's as athletic as him, goes 4 for 4 from 3? You're in trouble."

But Saturday doesn't come to pass, Edwards attests, without the support of all those who stood by him.

John Calipari, for one.

"I kept saying, 'You're going to break through. I believe in you,'" said Calipari, in his 15th season as UK's coach. "He said, 'Coach, I believe in you.'"

His teammates also were a source of constant, unending support. Fellow freshman Sheppard, the same player who found Edwards for the soon-to-be four-point play, had an assist off the court, too. He introduced Edwards to a mental health coach.

"We've been talking," Edwards said. "And I've been reading books about mental health. So just to be able to be free and just play and mentally be better, it feels (great)."

During Edwards' lowest points, Sheppard was always in his ear.

"I was telling Justin, 'Think: You're at the University of Kentucky playing for a really good team for a really, really good coach. Not many people get to say that. So just think of the positives and never let the negative voice take over your mind,'" Sheppard said.

That power of positive thinking has taken hold. Sheppard said he's noticed how upbeat Edwards has become. He's smiling. And he carries that attitude everywhere.

"Everyone struggles mentally," Sheppard said. "It's a hard thing not to struggle with. ... So seeing him on the court, having fun and enjoying playing, is very exciting for me."

Yet Edwards didn't rely solely on his circle of influence to pick him up; he helped dig himself out of the rut by setting up semi-permanent residence in the practice gym. Before every practice, Edwards tries to put up 200 or 300 shots on his own. Then 400 to 500 more after practice is over — "just trying to keep it sharp," he said.

Saturday, at long last, it paid off.

"I work on my jump shot a lot. That's something that I'm really good at," he said. "It just hasn't shown this season. But I know that I'm a really good shooter."

Much like Edwards knew he was capable of playing as superlatively as he showcased Saturday.

He simply had to weather the storm.

"(You) just stay the course on bad days," he said. "It's not gonna rain forever."

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky basketball: Justin Edwards shines in big win at Rupp Arena