Kentucky basketball getting the Dre’una Edwards it needs at the time it needs her most
One week ago, in the confines of the visiting locker room at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Missouri, Dre’una Edwards stared into a laptop camera and offered words of gratefulness and gratitude.
By many standards, the Kentucky forward had just played one of the best games of her basketball career: A career-high 30 points and 14 shots made, combined with 10 rebounds, powered Edwards to her ninth double-double of the season in a critical road win for the Wildcats.
It was a performance that became commonplace last fall, as Edwards dominated non-conference play with a mixture of transition scoring, interior finesse and rebounding skill that made her the perfect compliment to UK star Rhyne Howard.
Edwards may smoothly run down the court after she corrals a loose ball, but the trajectory of her redshirt junior season has been anything but.
Head coach Kyra Elzy issued two team-imposed suspensions against Edwards in a span of 42 days.
The first kept Edwards out of a Dec. 9 loss in Rupp Arena to DePaul due to “not upholding the academic standards of the program.”
The second kept Edwards out for four games in Southeastern Conference play and was due to an internal disciplinary matter.
Kentucky went 1-4 this season in games Edwards missed, and her absence significantly contributed to UK’s spiraling season, one that as few as three weeks ago remained off the rails.
Edwards returned to the team on Jan. 30, and while she’s shifted from being a regular starter to coming off the bench in all nine games since her return, the winning has followed for UK, leading the Cats back into the NCAA Tournament picture and Edwards to that night in Columbia.
“I thank my teammates a lot because they held it down even when I wasn’t here and they continue to hold it down,” Edwards said. “I definitely feel like I owe them. They held me down, so now it’s time for me to hold them down. I think I’ve been doing that and we’ve just been there for each other all the way. It’s been amazing.”
Maturity and skill
When Edwards was in high school, it took years for Chad Kapanui to see the growth.
Kapanui coached Edwards for several years at Liberty High School, just outside Las Vegas.
While Edwards’ athleticism and strength immediately showed itself to Kapanui, at times so did her immaturity.
“They’re just kind of still acting a little goofy here and there and maybe not the leader-type person,” Kapanui said of Edwards’ early high school years. “But I noticed how she grew in the two years that I had her because for some reason, you could just tell by the time she became a senior how important this was to her.”
As Edwards grew older and wiser, her skill level followed suit.
Twice named a first-team all-state selection, Edwards averaged better than 18 points and 10 rebounds per game as a high school senior, similar statistics to the 17 points and eight rebounds she’s averaging per game this season for Kentucky.
“Just her overall skill in every aspect of the game improved tremendously, but the one thing that improved for her was her leadership,” Kapanui said. “Being the leader on the team, trying to get all these guys to stay focused, stay hungry.”
Edwards wasn’t leading a ragtag group to marginal postseason success either.
Liberty was and is a girls’ high school basketball power in Nevada.
One of Edwards’ senior year teammates in 2018 was Rae Burrell, now a longtime starter and key player for Southeastern Conference rival Tennessee.
Even with this level of talent around her, Edwards’ basketball savvy was evident.
“She was so smart, her IQ level’s so high that she could do whatever,” Kapanui said. “Her adjustment, adjusting to our style of play, it was no problem for her whether it was a special play just for her, whether it was a special play for another teammate. She played every role that you can ask for. So whether it was for her to score or for her to rebound, for her to just be a person to assist the ball, she did anything and everything to help out the team.”
That sentiment of Edwards as an adaptable player has been front and center for Kentucky this season.
Elzy has raved about Edwards’ ability to seamlessly switch among all positions on the court, going from ball handling and guarding on the perimeter to providing an interior presence who can reject shots and play in the post.
“Dre is just so versatile … she’s actually getting to the paint … she can get them to suck in and kick out,” Elzy said after Edwards posted one of her most complete performances of the season in a Feb. 17 home win over Vanderbilt, scoring 20 points, grabbing seven rebounds, dishing out three assists and registering a block.
Dating back to Kentucky women’s basketball media day in late October, Elzy promised a better version of Edwards after a summer spent on conditioning and nutrition in which Edwards lost about 20 pounds.
“Being fit will help her all around. One, she won’t rest on defense … and we probably can keep her out of foul trouble because some of the fouls that she would receive is probably because she was not in the fitness level that she needed to be in,” Elzy explained in October. “Offensively it helps us so much. She’s leading the break, she’s shooting the three, she’s crashing the offensive rebounds. You will see a different Dre Edwards this year.”
Holding Edwards accountable
Of course, for Edwards to make UK a different team on the court, she has to be on the court.
After Edwards was suspended by Elzy for the second time this season in January, the Herald-Leader asked Elzy if her confidence in or relationship with Edwards was affected.
Elzy didn’t comment.
But the timing of this second suspension was more than inconvenient for Kentucky. Combined with other injuries, UK was left with as few as six scholarship players available to play.
It was a decision that placed a priority on culture and discipline over potential results, a flag-in-the-ground moment by Elzy in her second season as Kentucky head coach.
“Dre is an unbelievable player and she has proven that on the court . . . even though I had to sit her out for disciplinary actions she has paid her price and consequence and we have moved forward,” Elzy said Tuesday. “But there is a culture that I want at Kentucky and a standard and expectation which we will have, and she has bought in along with everyone else.”
Elzy continued.
“I think it has made us closer as a team and you weather the storm together, through the good and the bad.”
Edwards is now in her third season in Lexington.
She began her college career at Utah, tearing her ACL in February 2019 during her freshman season, but still winning 2019 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors.
Then came a transfer to Kentucky, where she sat out the 2019-20 season due to NCAA transfer rules and the need to recover from that injury.
The change in scenery also offered a fresh chance for accountability, something that often comes from Howard.
“We’re going to keep it real with each other, so if she’s doing some dumb stuff I’m going to say, ‘Dre, what are you doing?’ And vice versa,” Howard said. “I respect her, she respects me and I know that she can take some pressure off of me.”
Does Edwards appreciate one of the best players in UK basketball history helping keep her in line?
“It’s good to have somebody that’s going to give you constructive criticism,” Edwards said. “She keeps me on my toes, I keep her on her toes and we just have a good time. It’s all love.”
A post with guard skills
Everybody prepares for Howard, the scoring savant who now has 2,185 career points at Kentucky.
They should also prepare for Edwards, who currently is averaging nearly 13 points and seven rebounds per game, while shooting 49.6% from the field, across 48 games as a Wildcat.
But that doesn’t always happen, and even when it does, it doesn’t always work.
Edwards scored 19 points and went 3-of-4 from three-point range in a December win over West Virginia.
“Howard is a great player, we knew (about) her coming in. But we didn’t expect those other (players) to hit all those threes. That kind of surprised us,” West Virginia head coach Mike Carey said.
In one of Kentucky’s most memorable wins of the season — a 15-point fourth quarter comeback win at home over Mississippi State on Feb. 15 — Edwards had 23 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks.
In the fourth quarter alone, Edwards was mammoth: Nine points, three rebounds, three assists and two blocks while playing the entire period, a prime example of her offseason commitment to fitness paying off in game situations.
“She’s a big, strong body, has the ability to make some shots around the rim,” Mississippi State interim head coach Doug Novak said. “She dislodged us a few times. . . . She was just more powerful than we were at that spot at times.”
This is the idealized version of Edwards, and the idealized version of Kentucky, at a time when both have needed it from the other.
“Last year she was getting the same shots in the paint, but wasn’t converting on them as efficiently because she was rushing,” Elzy said after Edwards’ 30-point game at Missouri. “She has worked on her post moves, she’s slowed down. But she’s dangerous just because she’s so versatile. She’s a post for us with guard skills. She can pick and pop, she can lead the break, the offensive rebounds and she’s playing with a lot of confidence right now and we need that.”
Thursday
Kentucky vs. Mississippi State
What: SEC women’s basketball tournament
When: 7 p.m. EST
Where: Bridgestone Arena in Nashville
TV: SEC Network
Seeding: UK No. 7, MSU No. 10
Last meeting: Kentucky beat MSU, 81-74, on Feb. 15 in Lexington.
SEC Tournament schedule
At Bridgestone Arena in Nashville
All times Eastern
Wednesday
Noon: No. 12 Texas A&M (14-14, 4-12) vs. No. 13 Vanderbilt (13-17, 4-12)
About 2:25 p.m.: No. 11 Alabama (15-12, 6-10) vs. No. 14 Auburn (10-17, 2-14)
Thursday
1 p.m.: No. 8 Arkansas (17-12, 7-9) vs. No. 9 Missouri (18-11, 7-9)
About 3:25 p.m.: No. 5 Florida (20-9, 10-6) vs. Texas A&M-Vanderbilt winner
7 p.m.: No. 7 Kentucky (15-11, 8-8) vs. No. 10 Mississippi State
About 9:25 p.m.: No. 6 Georgia (20-8, 9-7) vs. Alabama-Auburn winner
Friday
1 p.m.: No. 1 South Carolina (27-1, 15-1) vs. Arkansas-Missouri winner
About 3:25 p.m.: No. 4 Ole Miss (22-7, 10-6) vs. Florida-Texas A&M-Vanderbilt winner
7 p.m.: No. 2 LSU (25-4, 13-3) vs. Kentucky-Mississippi State winner
About 9:25 p.m.: No. 3 Tennessee (22-7, 11-5) vs. Georgia-Alabama-Auburn winner
Saturday
5 p.m.: First semifinal
About 7:25 p.m.: Second semifinal
Sunday
2 p.m.: Championship game
TV
▪ First round, second round and quarterfinals (SEC Network)
▪ Semifinals (ESPNU)
▪ Championship game (ESPN2)
