Louisville's Terrence Edwards Jr. wins ACC Player of the Week

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) - Louisville men's basketball guard Terrence Edwards Jr. is one of two Atlantic Coast Conference players sharing the league's Player of the Week honor for games played from February 2-9, the conference announced Monday.

The former James Madison University star shares the recognition with Wake Forest senior guard Cameron Hildreth. Edwards earned it by not just stepping up to play more at point guard while starter Chucky Hepburn recovers from a groin injury, but taking over in two wins for the Cardinals. He averaged 23 points, 8 assists and 6.5 rebounds in those victories over Boston College and Miami.

"He's playing his best basketball of the year," Louisville head coach Pat Kelsey said on the weekly ACC Men's Basketball Coaches Zoom Call. "And I think he's played really, really good basketball all year long."

Edwards played all 40 minutes against the Hurricanes, admitting he likely had not gone the full length of a game at the floor general spot since sixth grade. He responded with perhaps his best performance since joining the Cardinals, pacing his team with 27 points, 10 assists and five rebounds.

Louisville's Terrence Edwards drives the lane in an 88-78 win over Miami on Feb. 8, 2025 in the KFC Yum! Center.
ERIC CRAWFORD

You started to see more of what Edwards could do in such a role at Boston College, when Hepburn left the game early in the second half. Edwards, whom Kelsey expressed confidence in to fill the void left in Hepburn's absence, dropped 19 points while adding eight rebounds and six assists over 36 minutes vs. the Eagles.

"He's an extraordinary young man," Kelsey said. "He is such a team player. He is such a dog and such a competitor, and has such a toughness and grit about him."

The first-year head coach of the Cardinals has often credited Edwards for his work on the other end of the floor too. He was a major catalyst for the team's leap in defensive performance during its previous 10-game winning streak.

"We all know his calling card is his ability to put that ball in the basket. He's doing that as well as anybody right now," Kelsey said. "But the big story, I think for so long, is just how he's upped the level of his defense. And I really think it set the tone for the rest of our team to raise the level of their defense, and that's really been the story to me of the last two months."

Edwards joins Reyne Smith and Hepburn as the other two Cardinals to take home the weekly honor this season. This is the first time in 11 years that Louisville has had three different players be named ACC Player of the Week in the same campaign.

Louisville returns to ACC action on Wednesday night when it visits North Carolina State.