Cats sweep 4 games to win GLOBL Jam
Published 3:30 pm Monday, July 17, 2023
NEWS REPORT
Kentucky head coach John Calipari was not sure how his young team would fare in the 2023 GLOBL Jam in Toronto. Turns out, the UK head coach didn’t need to worry.
UK completed its dominant run in Toronto on Sunday night, topping homestanding Team Canada 89-72 to claim the gold medal in the second year of the event. Kentucky won all four of its games in this year’s GLOBL Jam by an average of 15 points per contest.
Freshman Justin Edwards led Kentucky in scoring in Sunday’s gold medal game, pouring in 23 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Tre Mitchell had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Cats and tournament MVP Antonio Reeves also scored 18 for Kentucky. Another freshman, D.J. Wagner, had 13 points and six assists for Kentucky. Edwards made 10 of 20 shots from the field. He made a pair of 3-pointers and collected a pair of blocks. Wagner added two steals. Reed Sheppard had two points and five assists.
Kentucky also defeated Germany and Team Africa, hitting the century mark in the win over Team Africa on Saturday night.
The Canadians challenged the Wildcats in the finale, but Kentucky outscored the hosts 18-6 in the final three minutes of the third quarter to put the game out of reach.
Edwards made 10 of 20 shots from the field. He made a pair of 3-pointers and collected a pair of blocks.
Kentucky beat Germany 81-73 in the opening round on Wednesday, followed by wins over Canada (93-69) on Thursday and Africa (104-92) on Saturday.