Jordan Burks, Justin Edwards broke through for Kentucky at Vandy. ‘He waited his turn.’
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Game day: No. 17 Kentucky 109, Vanderbilt 77
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Vanderbilt at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Kentucky basketball bounced back in a big way Tuesday night.
Following a pair of SEC defeats inside Rupp Arena to Florida and Tennessee, the Wildcats went to Nashville and put together a historic offensive display in a 109-77 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores.
While Vandy (ranked No. 201 in KenPom) doesn’t present a stiff on-court challenge, it was a get-right win for the Wildcats before a big home game this weekend.
UK will take a quick break from SEC action Saturday to play its final nonconference game of the regular season against Gonzaga, the second in a two-game series between the Cats and Zags. Gonzaga handled Kentucky 88-72 in November 2022 in a game played in Spokane, Washington.
Kentucky is just 2-4 in Quad 1 games this season (per the NCAA NET rankings), and Gonzaga represents a much-needed chance for UK to add another Quad 1 victory to its NCAA Tournament résumé.
But before the Bulldogs come to Central Kentucky, UK head coach John Calipari took to the airwaves Wednesday night for another edition of his weekly radio show.
Among the topics discussed by Calipari were career nights from freshmen Jordan Burks and Justin Edwards against Vanderbilt, as well as improvements made by Kentucky in defending out-of-bounds plays.
Jordan Burks earns more minutes with career night against Vanderbilt
When Kentucky added guard Jordan Burks as a late freshman pickup last summer, it came amid a roster construction nightmare for the Wildcats. UK was scrambling to add players at a time before fifth-years Antonio Reeves and Tre Mitchell were confirmed as Wildcats for this season.
Going back to that time, it would have been hard to envision the role that Burks — a 6-foot-8 guard — would eventually play on this year’s UK team.
First came significant minutes at the start of the season, when he deputized as a makeshift 5 while UK was without several players in the frontcourt.
Then came a period in which Burks was repeatedly singled out by Calipari as being a standout player in Kentucky’s practices, but without the payoff of significant in-game minutes as the Wildcats welcomed previously injured players back to the rotation.
But Tuesday night, Burks got his deserved moment in the sun. The freshman tallied 13 points on 6-for-6 shooting from the field, along with five rebounds, in the win over Vanderbilt.
Tuesday marked a career high in points scored for Burks — who was a star scoring presence in the Overtime Elite league as a prep school senior — and he also matched his career high in rebounds against the Commodores.
“Here’s what Jordan added: Energy ... How about how he guarded the guards when we switched? I mean it was unbelievable,” Calipari said. “... He stayed down in a stance, he moved his feet, he (used) his big arms.”
The 15 minutes Burks logged against Vandy represented more playing time than he’d gotten in his previous five appearances combined for Kentucky. And as Calipari alluded to during both his postgame press conference Tuesday and his radio show Wednesday, Burks’ strong play could lead to an increased fight for playing time as the regular season draws to a close.
“So you look at it and you say, ‘I know what your name is. And I know what his name is, but he deserves to play,’” Calipari said. “... I’m proud (of Burks) because he waited his turn.”
What changed with Kentucky’s Justin Edwards at Vanderbilt?
In addition to Burks’ breakout game, the same occurred for freshman Justin Edwards on Tuesday.
In what’s been a slog of a freshman season for Edwards, complete performances like the one he put together against Vanderbilt have been hard to come by.
The highly touted, 6-foot-8 prospect had a career-high 17 points against the Commodores. Edwards also had a season-high three assists in the win, as well as a highlight-reel moment with a ferocious breakaway windmill dunk in the second half.
“I’m trying to give (Edwards) a path to let the game come to (him). That’s the tweak of it,” Calipari said. “I’m not going to get specifically (into) what I’m doing. I’m trying to do the same with Adou (Thiero).”
Despite his season-long struggles, Edwards has been a mainstay in the Kentucky starting lineup: Edwards has started 20 of the Cats’ 22 games this season, and recently returned from a one-game absence due to a quad injury.
“Now all of sudden you see him yesterday, he was so comfortable playing,” Calipari said. “He was creating. ... I am so proud of him because it’s been hard. It’s been hard, and he’s stayed the course.”
Calipari sees improvement with Kentucky’s out-of-bounds defense
Of all the disappointing defensive moments that occurred during UK’s home loss to Tennessee last weekend, the Wildcats’ ineptitude when defending baseline out-of-bounds plays was near the top of the list.
The Cats have been repeatedly torched on out-of-bounds sets this season, but the issue surged to the forefront in recent weeks during lackluster defensive outings against Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.
While UK still surrendered 77 points to Vanderbilt on Tuesday, the Commodores only had 1.07 points per possession.
And Calipari also noted more success for the Cats when it came to defending the aforementioned baseline out-of-bounds plays. Kentucky even used zone defense to better guard these plays.
“Now we could go man, or we could go zone. But the zone was good,” Calipari said. “They didn’t get anything at the rim.”
