Virginia redshirt-junior forward Kadin Shedrick has shown steady signs of improvement on both ends of the floor since his arrival in Charlottesville, and he will put his skills to the test Saturday against one of the ACC’s most dominant big men.
Shedrick — a 6-foot-11, 231-pound native of Holly Springs, N.C., who is averaging 9.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.2 steals and a team-high 1.7 blocks per game this season — will have his hands full Saturday against Syracuse’s Jesse Edwards.
While Shedrick has electrified the John Paul Jones Arena crowd time and time again with dazzling alley-oop dunks and emphatic rejections of opposing players’ shot attempts over the past few seasons, at times, his over-pursuit of hunting for blocks has left the restricted area wide open, allowing opponents to slide in for easy, non-contested buckets.
Shedrick and the other Cavalier post players can’t afford to allow those types of interior breakdowns Saturday against Edwards. The 6-11 junior center is averaging a double-double — 13.9 points and 10.9 rebounds per game — while also leading the conference with 3.1 blocks per game. He’s already racked up six double-doubles this season.
A native of the Netherlands, Edwards plays with an old-school mentality down low. He commands the paint offensively, oftentimes making defenders look silly attempting to get in his way. If an opponent collapses on the inside and brings a double team, Edwards has the ability to locate and kick it out to an open teammate on the perimeter.
Syracuse star freshman point guard Judah Mintz has developed a nice chemistry with Edwards, a la Kihei Clark-to-Shedrick, and if he or any of his teammates come up short on a jump shot, they know that Edwards will more than likely be right there to clean it up on the offensive glass.
One false step and Edwards can quickly and easily make a defender pay, while on the other end of the court, his rim protection is second-to-none. He’s known to come out of nowhere to swat away what appeared to be an open look, from just about anywhere on the court.
Shedrick, who’s shooting 70 percent from the field (42-for-60), has held his own against some talented bigs, not only this season but in years past as well. He went toe to toe with Michigan 7-footer Hunter Dickinson back in November, he’ll face UNC’s Armando Bacot at least twice this season, and he’s convinced that his team is capable of knocking off anyone on any given night, if they play the right way.
“I think the biggest thing I learned is that we can play with anybody in the country,” Shedrick said after the Houston game a few weeks back. “As long as we limit those lapses and run our offense hard, I think we can play with — and beat — anybody in the country. It was really good to have this challenging nonconference schedule to get us ready for ACC play and we learned a lot about ourselves, we’ve just got to continue to play hard.”
Shedrick’s not afraid of getting physical and putting himself in harm’s way, as evidenced by taking multiple shots to the face in just about every contest so far. He and his teammates must bring that hard-nosed, blue-collar, “take-off-the-tuxedo” attitude into Saturday’s game, or it could be a long day.
The Orange, winners of six of their last seven games, have only won twice at John Paul Jones Arena since joining the conference in 2013. Should Syracuse pick up a third win at JPJ on Saturday, Edwards will play a vital role.
Conversely, if Shedrick & Co. are able to even somewhat contain Edwards and limit his impact and production, it will be up to a mostly inexperienced Syracuse lineup to pick up the slack.
Bottom line: Stop Edwards, stop Syracuse. Sounds simple enough, but lots of opposing frontcourt defenders have found out the hard way that it’s by no means an easy task.
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