Texas Tech basketball: What we know about the Red Raiders so far

Edwards is not a primary scorer

It’s time we stop expecting Kyler Edwards to be a lead dog on this team.  It’s just not what he is.

We mistakenly put that expectation on him this year given that he was a solid contributor last year and he’s the team’s most experienced player in regard to playing under Chris Beard.  But he’s proven that he’s just a complementary piece…and that’s fine.

For instance, his three points against OU on Tuesday might have been a bit of a disappointment to many fans, especially on the heels of a scoreless outing against Kansas.  However, without his nine rebounds, Tech likely would not have won that game.

The simple fact is that Edwards is not going to take over game after game.  Sure, he has the ability to do so like when he scored 24 points against Kansas State and 22 against Iowa State in consecutive games last season.

But more often than not, he’s going to be just a nice contributor at best and we should start adjusting our expectations accordingly.  Instead of expecting him to go for 15-20 points against top teams, maybe we should hope to see him hit enough open shots to help give the team some balance.  In other words, maybe it won’t be the volume of the points he scores that proves to be key but rather the timeliness that matters.

Against Houston, KU, and OU, he managed just eight total points.  That’s as much of an indication as any that he’s not likely to take over games against the better teams on the schedule.  But if he can hit a few open looks per game and then contribute in other ways (such as rebounds, assists, or steals) he can still be a valuable component for this team.