Texas Tech basketball: 5 questions to be answered as practice begins
Will Kyler Edwards rebound from a disappointing season?
We’ve already touched on this topic a bit but it is important enough that it bears a closer look. One of the most important questions that will eventually be answered this year is whether or not junior guard Kyler Edwards will rebound from what was a disappointing sophomore campaign.
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To put it simply, Edwards was nowhere near as efficient in 2019-20 as he was as a true freshman.
His points per 40 minutes of action rose only 1.4 points despite the fact that his usage rate (the percentage of possessions that ended with him either shooting the ball, assisting on a shot, or turning the ball over) rose from 17.9% to 20.2%.
But where he struggled most was with his 3-point shot. After hitting 44.9% from deep two seasons ago, he was just a 32.2% shooter last year.
Much of that has to do with the fact that Edwards was more of a key that opposing defenses focused on meaning that he had fewer wide-open looks than he did when he came off of the bench for the Final Four team. What’s more, he had to do more for his team like facilitate the offense and that often takes some of a shooter’s legs out from under him. So too does an increase in minutes and last year, Edwards saw his playing time double.
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This season, Edwards will be asked to do less in terms of running the team, creating off the dribble, and setting up his teammates. Rather, he should be back to being an option playing off the ball where he can look for more open jumpers. And if he can shoot at a level approaching that at which he shot as a true freshman, he will give this team some much-needed scoring from beyond the arc.