Kentucky's Justin Edwards appears to be getting hot at the right time.
The highly touted prospect from Philadelphia showcased his preseason hype last weekend in a 117-95 win over Alabama. Edwards shot a perfect 10 of 10 from the floor and finished with 28 points and five rebounds. His big day at Rupp Arena marked the most made field goals without a miss under coach John Calipari at Kentucky.
Kentucky's offensive firepower is undeniable. Between Edwards, Rob Dillingham, Reed Sheppard, D.J. Wagner, Antonio Reeves and Tre Mitchell, the Wildcats are going to be a tough out come March. There are still legitimate question marks around the defense and how it can hold up in the tournament, but Kentucky's offensive upside is captivating.
It's been five years since Kentucky got out of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament; could this be the year? If Edwards continues to play like this, it would give Kentucky another offensive weapon to rely on the rest of the way.
Let's jump into our rankings and get to our CBS Sports/USBWA Freshman of the Week for the the 2023-24 college basketball season
Freshman of the Week: Justin Edwards, Kentucky
Welcome back to the Frosh Watch, our weekly ranking of the five most impressive freshmen in college basketball. CBS Sports has once again teamed up with the United States Basketball Writers Association and its Wayman Tisdale Freshman of the Year Award to present this every-Tuesday feature. Each week we'll start by announcing the national Freshman of the Week honoree. The cycle for FOTW runs Tuesday-Monday.
Before the season started, I ranked Edwards just behind USC's Isaiah Collier on the list of top impact freshmen. His performance in Kentucky's GLOBL Jam games in Canada made him receive lottery consideration. After some struggles to start the year, he's playing his best basketball at the right time.
Edwards ranked as the No. 3 prospect in the country by 247Sports behind Ron Holland and Collier. While his draft stock has dropped significantly during the last four months, he can certainly work himself back into the first round by closing the season strong and flashing the tools he showed from last summer. The 6-foot-8 wing still has plenty of upside as a prospect. If he can use the performance against Alabama as a springboard, Kentucky will be in business.
- Nov. 28: D.J. Wagner, Kentucky
- Dec. 5: Myles Rice, Washington State
- Dec. 12: Aden Holloway, Auburn
- Dec. 19: Dedan Thomas Jr., UNLV
- Dec. 26: Jared McCain, Duke
- Jan. 2: Jackson Shelstad, Oregon
- Jan. 9: PJ Haggerty, Tulsa
- Jan. 16: Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State
- Jan. 23: Zvonimir Ivišić, Kentucky
- Jan. 30: Yves Missi, Baylor
- Feb. 6: Stephon Castle, UConn
- Feb. 13: Collin Murray-Boyles, South Carolina
- Feb. 20: Jared McCain, Duke
Frosh Watch: Top 10 freshman rankings
1. Jared McCain, Duke
Stats: 13.6 PPG | 4.9 RPG | 41.1% 3FG
McCain maintains the No. 1 spot after scoring 15 points in a loss on the road to Wake Forest. In the past month, the Duke star has dipped into the single digits for scoring just once (vs. Miami). McCain's consistent body of work lately solidifies his position at the top of this list for now. Last week: 1
2. PJ Haggerty, Tulsa
Stats: 20.2 PPG | 5.3 RPG | 3.7 APG
Haggerty continues to score at a high level. The Tulsa guard scored 24 points on 8 of 13 shooting and added seven rebounds in a loss to Wichita State. He followed up that performance by scoring 17 points — including the game-winning free throws with two seconds remaining — in a 69-67 win over Charlotte. Last week: 2
3. Ja'Kobe Walter, Baylor
Stats: 14.7 PPG | 4.4 RPG | 1.1 SPG
Walter picked an ideal time to tie his career high in 3-pointers made in a single game. The Baylor star connected on 5 of 10 attempts from deep and nearly helped lead a comeback effort against Big-12-leading Houston. Walter responded by scoring 16 points in a 62-54 road win over TCU on Monday. He received the largest bump of anyone on this list this week. Last week: 6
4. Reed Sheppard, Kentucky
Stats: 11.7 PPG | 4.3 RPG | 4.1 APG | 51.3 % 3FG
Over his last six games, Sheppard has 26 steals with five or more in four of those games. In the win over Alabama last week, Sheppard did what he does best: stuff the stat sheet. Sheppard scored eight points and added six rebounds, six assists and four steals in one of the biggest wins of UK's season. Last week: 4
5. Myles Rice, Washington State
Stats: 15.4 PPG | 3.7 APG | 3.0 RPG
Rice had arguably his worst game of the season (by his standards) against No. 4 Arizona. Luckily for him and his team, it didn't matter. Behind big buckets down the stretch from Jaylen Wells, WSU knocked off Arizona to give itself the potential first-place tiebreaker come Pac-12 Tournament time. Rice scored 13 points on 6 of 15 shooting less than 48 hours later in a loss to Arizona State in Tempe. Last week: 3
6. Rob Dillingham, Kentucky
Stats: 15.0 PPG | 3.8 APG | 2.9 RPG
Dillingham remains one of the most electric players in the country, regardless of age or position. The Kentucky star knocked down a go-ahead jumper with 12 seconds remaining before LSU's Tyrell Ward scored at the buzzer to give LSU a 74-73 win. Dillingham scored 16 points and added four assists in 25 minutes against Alabama to close out the week. Last week: 7
7. Isaiah Collier, USC
Stats: 16.0 PPG | 4.3 APG | 2.8 RPG
In Collier's lone game in action last week, he scored 11 points and added four assists and three rebounds in a 62-56 win over UCLA. Collier turned the ball over three times -- his most giveaways in nearly two weeks -- in the Trojans' second win in the last three games. Collier struggled with turning the ball over earlier in the season, but this appears to be a one-off. Last week: 5
8. Cody Williams, Colorado
Stats: 13.7 PPG | 3.3 RPG | 1.8 APG
Colorado's season was potentially on the line last weekend against Utah. With the Buffaloes needing a win over the Utes to stay alive for a potential at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament, they responded with an 89-65 win. Williams scored four points in 25 minutes of action. Williams is one of the top contenders to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. Last week: 8
9. Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State
Stats: 15.3 PPG | 2.3 RPG | 1.7 APG
Hubbard is back in the rankings for the first time in a handful of weeks after exploding for 32 points in a 20-point win over LSU. Like Colorado, Mississippi State is in need of quality wins down the stretch to potentially secure an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. A performance like the one he delivered against LSU will certainly help that cause. Last week: NR
10. Malik Mack, Harvard
Stats: 17.9 PPG | 4.7 APG | 3.8 RPG
Despite some recent decline in high-volume production, Mack remains the top-scoring first-year player in the sport. Mack scored nine points and added eight rebounds in a loss to Princeton. Mack scored 15 points and added five assists in a 74-70 win over Penn. Last week: 9
Others considered: UConn's Stephon Castle, UCLA's Sebastian Mack, Iowa's Owen Freeman, Pitt's Carlton Carrington, Kentucky's D.J. Wagner, Iowa State's Milan Momcilovic, Oregon's Jackson Shelstad, North Carolina's Elliot Cadeau and Notre Dame's Markus Burton, New Mexico's JT Toppin, Baylor's Yves Missi and Kansas' Johnny Furphy.