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Texas Tech basketball: Kyler Edwards notches career-high vs. CSUB

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 24: Guard Kyler Edwards #0 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders stands among students during "The Matador Song" after the college basketball game against the LIU Sharks on November 24, 2019 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 24: Guard Kyler Edwards #0 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders stands among students during "The Matador Song" after the college basketball game against the LIU Sharks on November 24, 2019 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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Saturday in Lubbock, Kyler Edwards scored a career-high 20 points to help the Texas Tech basketball team taken down Cal State Bakersfield 73-58.

Until Sunday, Kyler Edwards had yet to take over a game this year the way we expected him to in his sophomore campaign.  But in the Texas Tech basketball team’s 73-58 victory over Cal State Bakersfield, Edwards caught fire in the second half on his way to a career-high 20 points.

Having been just a combined 3-18 from behind the arc in his last three outings, the Arlington, Texas native rediscovered his shooting touch as he went 3-6 from deep and hit 7-9 free throws in his best showing of the year.  That’s a great sign for the Red Raiders as they prepare to open Big 12 play on Saturday in Lubbock against Oklahoma State.

Matching Edwards on the scoreboard with 20 points and besting him with a perfect 4-4 shooting day from 3-point range was true freshman Jahmi’us Ramsey.  In his second game back after missing four games with a hamstring injury, the Red Raiders’ leading scorer was 6-10 from the field with most of his damage coming in the first half.

That was critical for the Red Raiders as they looked to finally play a strong opening 20 minutes.  Though there were some breakdowns on defense in the first half, Chris Beard had to be happy to see his team hold a 33-29 halftime ending a run of three-straight games in which Tech trailed at home at the intermission.

Ramsey stormed out of the gates with 14 points in the first half but Tech couldn’t shake the Roadrunners.  In fact, the game was tied at 23-23 with just 5:03 to go in the first.

But after the break, Edwards got hot to give his team some breathing room.  With Tech leading just 33-31, Edwards hit three-consecutive shots from behind the arc to push Tech’s lead to 42-31 in a sequence that also saw him register a steal.

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That was the type of showing that we had been wanting to see from Edwards all year.  Given that he is one of only two returners from last year’s rotation.  The other, Davide Moretti, was quiet on Sunday with just six points, all of which came from behind the arc.

Though the Red Raiders managed to extend their home winning streak over non-conference opponents to 54 games, they struggled to keep CSUB off the boards.  The Roadrunners were able to out-rebound Tech 36-29, of which 11 were offensive boards.

6-foot-8, 265-pound Shawn Smith also gave Beard’s team fits in the first half with his size on his way to eight points.  It was a reminder that this Red Raider team will have to continue to battle as a team in the post against teams with size, whether that be size vertically or, as in Smith’s case, horizontally.

As a team, the Road Runners shot 40.7% from the floor and 6-15 (40%) from behind the arc.  They were led by the 10 points they got from Justin Elder-Davis off the bench as part of a 35-10 edge in scoring from the second units.

But as was the case in the last two Red Raider home games, Tech rode a huge edge at the free-throw line to a win.  Though the Red Raiders shot an uncharacteristically poor 64% from the line, they managed to have a 16-6 advantage in points at the stripe.

The Red Raiders now sit at 9-3 on the year and will be off for the next five days as they prepare to open Big 12 play against Oklahoma State.  The Cowboys are also 9-3 on the year after beating Southeastern Louisiana 82-31 on Sunday.

Tech then hosts No. 7 Baylor before traveling to West Virginia.  The No. 22 Mountaineers scored an impressive 67-59 win over Ohio State in Cleveland on Sunday thus reminding Red Raider fans that the start of Big 12 play is going to be a challenge.

Fortunately, Tech looked better Sunday afternoon than they had in their previous two home games against mid-major teams at home.  Still, there remains plenty for Beard and his coaching staff to polish up before their team opens up their defense of last year’s regular-season Big 12 title.  Hopefully, Kyler Edwards will carry his hot hand with him into league play.

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