17 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists vs. Oklahoma
Though the Red Raiders beat Oklahoma 69-61 when the Sooners came to Lubbock in early February, it was one of the least inspiring victories of the Chris Beard era. That night, Tech was lethargic for long stretches of the game and played with fire all night only pulling away in the final minutes. If you remember, it was after that game that the head coach openly criticized his team’s defensive effort on the Texas Tech radio broadcast saying that some of his players didn’t want to buy in and play defense every possession.
One player that did play well that night though was Edwards. With 17 points to go along with 5 rebounds and 3 assists, he was second on the team in scoring behind T.J. Holyfield‘s 21 points.
Often this past season, Edwards struggled to be efficient when putting up his points. However, against the Sooners in Lubbock, he hit 7 of 10 shots. It was one of two times he shot 70% from the floor when attempting 10 shots. (The other, we will get to in just a moment.)
What made Edwards’ performance in this game so important was the fact that Tech got only one point that night from Terrence Shannon Jr., who was in the starting lineup at that time, and only six points from the bench, all from Kevin McCullar. Also, Jahmi’us Ramsey and Davide Moretti combined to shoot just 8-20 overall.
Fortunately, Edwards was able to take up the slack. Hitting 3 of 4 shots from behind the arc, he gave Tech a second scorer on a night when points were tough to come by and possessions were limited as OU slowed the game down.
Twenty times this season, Edwards took ten shots or more in a game. Often, the key to Tech’s success in those games was whether or not he was efficient in the sense that he made at least 40% of those attempts. In the 13 games this year in which Edwards shot 40% from the floor while taking ten or more shots, Tech was 10-3.
Moving forward, Tech needs to find more ways to get Edwards easier shot opportunities where he doesn’t have to work as hard to get open. When that happens, he will be a more efficient scorer and that will make the offensive attack all the more difficult to handle.