Texas Tech basketball: Kyler Edwards’ best games of 2019-20

Kyler Edwards was thrust into a much more prominent role this season for the Texas Tech basketball program so let’s take a look at his best performances from 2019-20.

After seeing Jarrett Culver and Davide Moretti take huge steps forward and become stars for the Texas Tech basketball program in their second season on campus, many Red Raider fans were expecting a similar jump for Kyler Edwards during his sophomore tour of duty.  But while the guard proved to be one of Tech’s best players in most statistical categories, it’s safe to say that he didn’t make the type of strides that would put his second season in the same category as Culver’s or Moretti’s.

Just looking at the primary stats we all use to evaluate players, Edwards did make a huge jump.  His scoring went from 5.5 to 11.4 points per game while his assists rose from 1.1 to 3.1 and his rebounds per game rose from 2.2 to 4.0.  But that was due almost entirely to the fact that he played nearly double to minutes this season that he played a year ago.

So to get a fair look at the two campaigns he has put together, we have to look at the advanced analytics.  When we do, we see that he was essentially the same player and in some cases, he took a step backward in year-two

This year, his scoring per 40 minutes was up just 1.4 points per game despite the fact that his shot attempts per 40 minutes increased by 1.8.  Interestingly, his trips to the free-throw line fell from 3.1 per 40 minutes to 2.9.  That’s because his 3-point attempts rose from 5.1 per 40 minutes to 5.8.

In other words, a player who was already extremely dependant on the 3-point shot became even more of a one-trick pony this year.  And with an increased defensive and ball-handling workload, his 3-point shooting suffered under the added weight of his expanded role going from the last player in Beard’s 2018-19 rotation to a starter who averaged well over 30 minutes per game.

Shooting just 32.2% from behind the arc, Edwards was not nearly as much of a weapon in that aspect of the game this year after hitting at a 44.9% clip as a freshman.  Moving forward, Beard needs to find a way to put Edwards back into a role where he runs off of more screens and spends more of his energy getting open looks rather than trying to facilitate the offense.

In fact, it might make sense to go back to bringing him off the bench where he can be an instant offense type of sixth man.  Given the improved flexibility that we expect Beard to have with next year’s roster, that might be the best way to maximize what Edwards does best.

I know it sounds like I’m being rather harsh on Edwards and that’s not totally fair to him.  Measuring him against Jarrett Culver and Davide Moretti is holding him to the highest of standards.  And no one is trying to argue that he was a useless player this past season.

Despite being utilized in ways that don’t suit his skill set, he was still able to finish third on the team in scoring (11.4 p.p.g.), second in assists, and fourth in rebounds.  Also, he did make strides in areas such as leadership and maturity.  Those are traits that can’t be measured statistically but they were evident by watching the way he communicated and directed his teammates while on the floor as he assumed more of the responsibility for his team’s success.

Every program needs players like Kyer Edwards.  He’s a program guy, one who will be part of your team until he exhausts your eligibility.  That’s becoming rarer and more important in the modern age of the sport.

I still have high hopes for Edwards’ career.  After all, it’s just at the half-way point and he has plenty of time to maximize his talent.  He has a very important role to fill for the next two seasons and any success Tech has during that time will be greatly influenced by what he brings to the table.

So with that in mind, let’s take a look at his five best games of this past season.  As we do, we will get a sense of the type of player he could become and develop an understanding of which of his skills the Red Raiders need to maximize next season.