Texas Tech basketball: Florida State guard transferring to Red Raiders

When Mark Adams was named head coach of the Texas Tech basketball program, many wondered just how well he would be able to recruit, especially given that he’d never been in charge of a major conference program. A month and a half later, he’s proven that he can at least add talent from the transfer portal having brought five transfers to Lubbock during his short time in charge.

The latest to join Adams’ roster is Sardaar Calhoun, a 6-foot-6 guard/wing who played last season at Florida State and who still has two years of eligibility remaining. But unlike the other transfers that Adams has signed this offseason, Calhoun’s 2020-21 statistics aren’t going to jump off the page at anyone.

Playing on a Seminole team that went 10-deep in its rotation, the Virginia native averaged a modest 5.3 points and 1.4 rebounds per game. That was largely due to the fact that he played only 14.2 minutes per game. In fact, when you look at his numbers per 40 minutes of action, you’ll see that he put up 14.9 points. 4.0 boards, and 1.6 assists.

What’s more, Calhoun possesses one skill that is highly coveted in the world of college basketball; a skill that Texas Tech is in desperate need of….he can light it up from deep.

This past season, he was a 39.7% shooter from beyond the arc. And prior to that, while playing at Missouri West Plains of the JUCO ranks, he shot 44.3% from outside over the course of his two-year career, one that saw him set the school record for scoring average per game at 18.2 p.p.g.

Tech needed to beef up its 3-point shooting this offseason, especially because of the departure of Kyler Edwards who led last season’s team in 3-point percentage. Thus, Calhoun’s ability to fill it up from deep had to be one of the biggest reasons he was a target of Adams.

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Coming out of high school, Calhoun was a 3-star prospect with offers from the likes of Illinois, LSU, Seton Hall, and East Carolina as well as Florida State. But he would wind up going the JUCO route.

At Missouri West Plains, he would finish his career second in program history in overall scoring (1,075 points), career 3-point field goals made (183), and career 3-point field goal percentage (.443 percent). But at Florida State, he was not featured as a primary weapon…but given how the Seminoles head coach Leonard Hamilton likes to play, none of his players are going to be featured the way stars at other schools might be.

This past season, no Seminole averaged over 29 minutes played per game. But on the other hand, nine players saw at least 13.7 minutes.

Could Mark Adams be setting up his roster to follow a similar strategy? Given how he has already received commitments from six players who will be guards/wings at the Big 12 level, he could certainly devise a system in which he could distribute his minutes rather evenly across his roster.

What we know for sure that that Tech currently has a stockpile of guards to work with thanks to the recruiting efforts of Adams and his newly assembled coaching staff. But while most of them bring similar skillsets to the table, Sardaar Calhoun’s ability to drain shots from 3-point range makes him a potentially invaluable member of what Adams will be building in West Texas.

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