The Kentucky Wildcats continued the momentum for the tip of the season as they knocked off the Vanderbilt Commodores on Wednesday night time in Rupp Enviornment.
A key participant within the position this UK crew has been on in the previous couple of weeks has been freshman ahead, Justin Edwards.
Many within the BBN will take into consideration the right capturing efficiency in opposition to Alabama as one of many highlights of the season, however the former prime recruit is now beginning to present sustained success on the courtroom. He continued his ascension in opposition to the Commodores, the place he scored 10 factors on 3/6 capturing and a pair of/4 from deep. He additionally added 5 rebounds and one block.
Zack Geoghegan of KSR took a while to interrupt down his numbers in current weeks, and it reveals Edwards has been enjoying nice basketball during the last 9 video games. Included within the stats are some absurd capturing splits at 62/54/83.
The Justin Edwards breakthrough has truly been taking place for a couple of month now.
First 20 video games: 7.7 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 0.8 SPG, 22 MPG | 44.2/28.6/70.8
Final 9 video games: 11.1 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 1.4 SPG, 21 MPG | 61.8/54.5/83.3
The distinction in capturing splits may be very spectacular.
— Zack Geoghegan (@ZGeogheganKSR) March 7, 2024
The primary a part of the season noticed Edwards combat by loads of his personal struggles on the courtroom, however John Calipari constantly stated the freshman ahead was going to finally break by.
Properly, that point is now right here.
A giant a part of Edwards’ ascension has include Kentucky enjoying him extra as a small-ball 4 in current weeks. He spent a lot of the early season on the 3 and labored extra on the perimeter.
Nonetheless, the damage to Tre Mitchell led to Edwards enjoying extra minutes on the 4, which started January thirteenth within the blowout win at Vanderbilt. That was the primary recreation Mitchell missed as a consequence of his again damage. He ended up lacking six video games since then because of the again subject, in addition to a shoulder damage.
That freed up Edwards to play the 4 extra, and it’s helped him discover extra consistency during the last 9 video games.
“We are able to additionally play Justin at 4. We have now been good with Justin at 4, which we had been once more as we speak, so a few of it’s the really feel of the sport, Calipari stated after Kentucky’s Senior Evening win over Vanderbilt.
This growth to finish the season is one that’s actually intriguing, because it provides one other environment friendly offensive menace to a juggernaut roster on that finish of the ground. He’s additionally beginning to come into his personal as a defender on the collegiate stage as nicely, including one other participant that may probably assist lock down a go-to scorer within the NCAA Match.
Going to be enjoyable to observe this crew and Edwards proceed to develop over the following few weeks.
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