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Jim Boeheim, if anything, can be known for his bluntness. 

And when Jesse Edwards was getting ready to come to Syracuse in 2019, Boeheim kept it simple when talking with the center’s parents. “This first year or two is going to be difficult,” Boeheim told them. The parents quickly responded. “We know that. We understand that.” They knew that despite being a quick-moving seven-footer, Edwards wouldn’t immediately be a superstar. His frame, and his skills, had to grow. 

Over the past four years, that’s what Edwards has done, going from the end of the bench to contributor to starter to star player. And it all culminated, rather fittingly, on Saturday evening against Wake Forest (18-13, 10-10 Atlantic Coast) — Edwards’ senior day, though he’s still unsure if he’ll return for a 5th year next season — when he tied a career-high with 27 points, snagged 20 rebounds and snatched five steals in Syracuse’s (17-14, 10-10 ACC) 72-63 win, its first in five games. 

Edwards became the first SU player to record at least 20 points and 20 rebounds in regulation, and did so in front of roughly 10 family and friends sitting across from the Orange’s bench, many of whom made the trip overseas from his native Netherlands. 

“Jesse was a monster tonight inside,” Boeheim, who said he couldn’t remember a more dominant senior day performance, said postgame. “You can’t play better than that. He was in a different world today. He was great.”

Edwards has been an instrumental member of this Syracuse team, keeping an otherwise-mediocre rebounding team competitive on the glass, and providing an inside scoring threat that Boeheim hasn’t had in years. The coach has still been disappointed with Edwards’ inconsistency at times, particularly against top teams, and still noted that he doesn’t think the center has “scratched the surface” of what he can be. “I really don’t,” Boeheim said again Saturday. 

Whatever surface Edwards did hit with his performance on Saturday sure was an impressive win, though, and Joe Girard III said Syracuse needed every bit of it. The Orange — reeling from four straight blowout losses, including a 20-point one to lowly Georgia Tech on Tuesday — wanted to prove they weren’t done yet, Edwards said. 

Wake Forest face-guarded Girard and Judah Mintz, who both responded by dropping the ball off to Edwards on ball screens. Syracuse fed Edwards well when he secured position, too, and the center said Wake Forest’s double-teams on pick-and-rolls set him up for easy opportunities. Throw in some good ball movements and spacing, and Edwards said he had a recipe to explode. 

“It was awesome. Jesse’s a beast — we’ve always known that — and he took advantage of all the opportunities he had today,” Girard said. “But we needed all of it.” 

Edwards got going early, notching 10 first-half points, but the real burst came after halftime. Wake Forest center Andrew Carr got into foul trouble — ultimately fouling out with 11:33 left — and Edwards took advantage. Girard hit him with a slick pass off the pick-and-roll for an and-one dunk before penetrating and feeding a diving Edwards for a two-handed dunk moments later. 

Mintz drove and hit Edwards for a layup. Under ordinary circumstances, it wasn’t anything special. In this case, it gave Edwards eight straight points, sent the JMA Wireless Dome into a craze and forced the second Wake Forest timeout in a span of two minutes. The Orange led 60-44. Edwards stayed on the court for an extra moment, extending his hands for the crowd to make more noise. His parents, girlfriend and brother (who brought an extra 4-5 friends from Amsterdam, Edwards said) stood and cheered. 

Jesse Edwards lifts his hands in the air to get the crowd exicted. He notched 27 points and 20 rebounds against the Demon Deacons. Meghan Hendricks | Photo Editor

Edwards said his family has made it to three other games this season. Their attendance creates added pressure, he said, but it’s “just a great feeling” when he responds with a strong game like he did Saturday. 

Edwards’ dad, David, said he never expected any of his sons would be basketball players. Edwards grew up playing tennis and track, but basketball eventually stuck. And Edwards, through four years, has stuck with Syracuse. There were thoughts of transferring early on and last year’s season-ending wrist injury. His brother Kai kept telling Edwards his time would come, that one day he could be SU’s go-to guy. 

“That’s what we dreamed of all those years,” Kai said before the season. “It always seemed kind of far away…and that’s just what he’s been working on for all those years.”

Edwards’s work behind the scenes, particularly his defensive improvement, was on full display Saturday. He tied a career-high with five steals, jumping passes to the high post to kickstart Syracuse’s offense. SU’s defense as a whole showed significant improvement after allowing over 90 points for three straight games, holding the Demon Deacons to their lowest point total since mid-December. 

Between an improved defense and Edwards’ strong play, Syracuse comfortably led throughout the second half. Wake Forest had a brief spurt, threatening to get within single digits, late in the second half, but Edwards rolled after setting a screen for Mintz and turned Maliq Brown’s lob into two points off the glass. 

Because of course, on his night, everything came back to Edwards. He was nearly at a loss for words postgame when asked what his performance meant to him. “I only have two words,” he said, “great feeling.” 

Back when he was at IMG Academy in Florida, thinking about what college he could maybe play for and watching Syracuse on TV, he thought the players were too fast, too smart with the ball — able to do things with it that he couldn’t. 

There’s been a lot that he didn’t think would happen to him. Like coming all the way from the Netherlands to play basketball at Syracuse. Or playing for a Hall of Fame head coach. Or making the jump from little-used reserve center to star player. For him, Saturday was a realization that everything had happened. And it built up to this performance. 

“It was a whole journey, starting off from pretty much not playing to starting in my junior year,” Edwards said. “It was never what I expected, or saw going in my head.” 

“It’s much better than that.”

Published on March 4, 2023 at 7:12 pm

Contact Connor: csmith49@syr.edu | @csmith17_