Texas Tech basketball: Red Raiders that have to step up in the postseason

Kyler Edwards has to get back to being a reliable outside shooter

It’s been a rollercoaster of a year for Kyler Edwards.   Overall the sophomore has been more than serviceable with 11.4 points, 4 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game in his first year as a starter.

But handling a much larger role for his team this season than he did in 2018-19 as a key reserve for the team that reached the National Title Game has caused some tremendous fluctuations in performance on the offensive end.  Unfortunately, he enters the postseason on a downturn.

In his last four games, he’s scored a total of just 24 points.  Averaging just six points since Tech’s last win, Edwards has gone two weeks without scoring more than eight points in a game.

That’s not going to cut it in the postseason.  For the year, Tech has averaged 72.7 points per game but with Edwards struggling, the Red Raiders are putting up just 59.7 points per game.

When Edwards scores, his team is a different animal.  Tech is 3-0 this year when he tops the 20-point mark and 6-1 when he puts up at least 15 points.

Most critical is his ability to hit shots from deep.  This year, he’s seen his shooting percentage from behind the arc fall from 44.9% to 32.2% as his usage rate has skyrocketed.

Seven times this year, Edwards has made at least three long-range bombs in a game.  The Red Raiders lost only one of those contests.  But in the Red Raiders’ nine conference losses, Edwards has gone just 11-42 (26.1%).

In the six games prior to Tech’s current four-game slide, Edwards averaged 14.3 points per game and was in double-digits on the scoreboard all six times.  In that stretch, Tech was 5-1.  He made 14-30 (46.6%) shots from behind the arc in that span.

Over the last four games, Edwards has been just 5-17 (29.4%) from three-point range.  If that doesn’t improve, it seems unlikely that Tech will have a long March run.