Texas Tech basketball: Kyler Edwards latest Red Raider freshman phenom

True freshman Kyler Edwards is off to a fantastic start for the Texas Tech basketball team becoming the latest Red Raider newcomer to play a critical role for Chris Beard.

For the second-consecutive season, the Texas Tech basketball team is relying heavily on a true freshman to be a key contributor. Like Jarrett Culver and Zhaire Smith last season, Kyler Edwards has quickly acclimated to the collegiate game and is already proving to be one of Chris Beard’s most important players.

Through ten games, Edwards is averaging 7.9 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 0.9 steals. Despite coming off the bench, he is the team’s fifth-leading scorer and has four double-digit games, including a career-high 19 against Northern Colorado.

The Arlington, Texas native was a three-star prospect when he signed with the Red Raiders last fall. But despite being the No. 4 player in Texas and the No. 32 shooting guard in the nation and holding offers from Butler, Georgia Tech, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas State, LSU, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma State, USC and Virginia Tech, he was overlooked by most, including Texas Tech fans.

But if he was overshadowed by fellow 2018 signee Khavon Moore (a top 40 national recruit and the highest-rated player to ever sign with Texas Tech at the time), he has certainly made a name for himself in Lubbock thus far. That is fortunate given the fact that Moore is yet to play this year and may redshirt as he tries to recover from a broken leg.

And looking further into the statistics, it becomes clear that the work Edwards is doing is comparable to what Culver and Smith did in their first ten games last season. He has not been inserted into the starting lineup as both Culver and Smith were early in the 2017-18 season but he’s been as productive when he’s been on the floor.

In the first ten games of last season, Culver was averaging 10.3 points per game while Smith was close behind with 10.0. But both were seeing more playing time with Culver on the court for 21.2 minutes per game and Smith 22.5 as compared to the 20.3 minutes Edwards is playing.

When comparing the points per minute of each player through his first ten games as a Red Raider, the numbers may surprise. Edwards’ 2.56 points per minute is a quarter point more than Smith’s 2.25 and nearly a half of a point more than Culver’s 2.05 showing that this year’s freshman star is just as explosive offensively, a realization that may catch even the most astute fans off-guard.

Now, when it comes to categories other than offense, Edwards is not quite as productive as last year’s star freshmen. But he is holding his own. He is grabbing over a full rebound fewer per game than both Culver (3.8) and Smith (3.9) did through their first ten games but that is to be expected of a player that is a true shooting guard rather than a forward.

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Edwards’ 1.2 assists lags behind the 1.9 and 1.8 Smith and Culver had respectively at this point a year ago but again, that is because he is being asked to fill a different role. Whereas, Culver and Smith were key ball handlers last year, Edwards is being asked to provide offense off the bench.

Last season, Culver and Smith spent plenty of time on the court with senior star Keenan Evans who averaged 17.6 points per game and having such a prolific scorer to play alongside helps inflate one’s assists numbers. Meanwhile, when Edwards is on the court, he is often the Red Raiders’ primary offensive option and as such, he looks to score more than to set up another shooter.

What’s more, his strong play has not been confined to just the offensive end of the court. His overall defensive rating (a measure of how many points it is estimated the opposition would score in 100 possessions with a particular player on the court) is 77.8, which ranks 4th in the Big 12.

In fairness, it must be pointed out that virtually every player in this year’s Texas Tech basketball team is excelling in defensive rating (the top five players in the conference are all Red Raiders) because of the team’s fantastic defense. Tech leads the nation in scoring defense allowing just 51.2 points per game, a testament to the work of every player that Beard inserts into the game, and Edwards has been a huge asset on that end of the floor.

He is tied with Culver and Davide Moretti for third on the team in steals per game despite playing nine minutes less per night than Culver and seven minutes less than Moretti. Edwards has proven to be heady on defense showing an ability to anticipate passes and get into passing lanes, which certainly means as much to his head coach as does his ability to put the ball in the basket.

And though he is not receiving much attention outside of Lubbock, he is performing as well as some of the most highly-regarded freshmen in the Big 12. This summer, our friends at Busting Brackets published their list of the top 5 incoming Big 12 freshmen and Edwards is outscoring all but Devon Dotson of Kansas (11 points per game).

Courtney Ramey of Texas (5.7 p.p.g.), David McCormack of Iowa State (1.6) and Quentin Grimes of Kansas (7.4) are all trailing Edwards thus far as of course is Khavon Moore, the fifth player on their list.

Next. Jarrett Culver drops 30 points on ACU. dark

Thursday night, Texas Tech will take on Duke’s stunning freshman class which features four stars (R.J. Barrett, Zion Williamson, Cam Reddish and Tre Jones) that have already become household names in the sport and are averaging a combined 67.9 points per game. But Texas Tech’s emerging true freshman, Kyler Edwards is proving to be one of the better newcomers in the nation and this week, he has a chance to let the country know just how good he is when he takes on some of the biggest names from his signing class.

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