Justin Te'jon Edwards (born December 16, 2003) is an American college basketball player. He was a consensus five-star recruit and one of the top players in the 2023 class.

Early life and high school career

Edwards grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and attended

Imhotep Institute Charter High School Imhotep Institute Charter High School is a public charter high school located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1998 to offer an African-centered education that emphasizes STEM subjects. During the 2015–16 school year, the sch ...

. He helped Imhotep win the Philadelphia City championship as a sophomore. As a junior, Edwards averaged 18.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game and led the Panthers to the PIAA Class 5A state championship. He played in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League following the season. Edwards was selected to play in the

2023 McDonald's All-American Boys Game The 2023 McDonald's All-American Boys Game was an all-star basketball game that was played on March 28, 2023, at Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. The game's rosters featured the best and most highly recruited high school boys graduating in the c ...

. He was also selected to play for Team USA in the

Nike Hoops Summit The Nike Hoop Summit is an international men's basketball all-star game sponsored by Nike, held once a year since 1995, except from 2001–2003, which features the USA Basketball Men's Junior Select Team against a World Select Team of international ...

. As a senior, Edwards averaged 17.9 points and 7.5 rebounds as the Panthers repeated as state champions and was named

Mr. Pennsylvania Basketball Mr. and Miss Pennsylvania Basketball is a yearly award given to the best high school basketball player in Pennsylvania. Twenty-five of each boys and girls student athletes are nominated by ''PAbball.com'' and states coaches and media vote for final ...

Recruiting

Edwards was a consensus five-star recruit and one of the top players in the 2023 class, according to major recruiting services. He was rated as the #1 overall recruit in the nation by '' ESPN'' in January 2023. On July 25, 2022, Edwards committed to playing college basketball for Kentucky after considering offers from Tennessee,

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

, Kansas, Maryland, and Villanova. He also considered playing professionally in the NBA G League.

College career

Edwards enrolled at the University of Kentucky in June 2023. During the summer before his freshman year he played for the Wildcats in the GLOBL JAM tournament in Canada and averaged 14.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.8 steals over four games as the team went undefeated and won the tournament. Edwards averaged 8.8 points and 3.4 rebounds in 32 games played during his freshman season. After the season, he declared for the

2024 NBA draft 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;", Kentucky , 32 , , 30 , , 21.5 , , .486 , , .365 , , .776 , , 3.4 , , 0.9 , , 0.9 , , 0.2 , , 8.8

Personal life

Edwards' mother, Ebony Twiggs, played college basketball at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania and overseas in Portugal.

References

External links

Kentucky Wildcats bioUSA Basketball bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Justin 2003 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Philadelphia Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball players Small forwards