Colorado State University Athletics
The Dish: Edwards' Spark Helps Produce Blowout
1/22/2020 9:58:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Reserve guard supplied much-needed defensive energy against Fresno State
FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The request is simple.
Give us a bit of this, a bit of that. Not a whole lot of one thing is actually required of Hyron Edwards, just contribute a bit across the board.
To himself, he has one big ask, which is easy to produce.
Energy off the bench. To the redshirt senior reserve guard, it's not a stretch. Fit into the flow and provide a little juice.
When one takes a gander at Wednesday's final box score from Moby Arena, they'll see an 86-68 victory over Fresno State. They'll look down and out will pop David Roddy's career-best 26 points. They'll scan a bit more and see fellow freshman Isaiah Stevens had 21. That Adam Thistlewood helped apply the dagger with 15 of his own.
The nine from Edwards won't stand out. Nor will his three assists, a lead he shared with three other teammates. One should take note of the team-best three steals, because he infused the adrenaline on the defensive end.
"It's awesome. It's guys like him, and Kris Martin has done that," CSU coach Niko Medved said. "Hyron's energy was terrific. We weren't getting many deflections; again, I didn't think our energy was where it needed to be. He came in and tipped a couple of balls, really disrupted what they wanted to do and really injected some life in us. Then we started to look like we were having a little fun on the defensive end, which is what we needed to do."
The final score says blowout, but the first 14 minutes of the night were close, even with Roddy setting a physical tone in the paint early. The Bulldogs are stingy on defense, which the Rams needed to match.
When Edwards entered, that was his call to duty. It was what he charged himself to do for his team, starting with squaring up the opposition. He filled passing lanes, producing a couple of steals which led to a Rams break.
Defense fueling offense is never a bad tactic.
"Whatever my teammates and coaches want out of me, that's going in and just playing hard, so that's what I do," he said. "That's pretty easy, coming from me.
"Man, the energy was there. I appreciate all the fans for coming out. My energy is like a life saver for us. If I bring energy, then my guys are going to feel the same thing. Just bringing tenaciousness to my defense, it shows these guys when I do come off the bench, I'm ready every time."
His ball-hawking led to easy offense, some of which he produced himself. As the Rams used a 13-0 run late in the first half to create some separation, one of the turnovers he created led to his own free throw, then he produced a steal and flew down the court for a monster dunk.
It brought the crowd to their feet, and his teammates off the bench. Too far, for one referee who issued a bench technical, but the moment was pure. Edwards had ignited the arena. Medved said it's a no-no, but hey, guys are trying to have a little fun, and the play was special.
"His energy is incredible. He's a little Energizer Bunny," Thistlewood said. "He's got so much grit on defense for us, and he just takes our defense to a whole new level, and we feed off that. When a guy can get going like that, it's contagious, and that's what we needed at that point and time."
To Edwards, the style of play is his calling card. The dunk, well, that was a rare exclamation point. Thistlewood gave him some style points, too.
"Man, my guys don't see me dunk like that much," he joked. "When I do it in a game, my teammates got hyped. I looked over and the ref was signaling a tech, and I didn't know why. They told me why, and I smiled a bit."
So did his coach. Not at the T, but at the aftershock of Edwards' entire night. The game may be a blowout, but the Rams needed a spark to catch fire. The way the team is playing right now, it could come from anyone on any given night.
Wednesday, Edwards – just following orders -- took his turn, and his timing was perfect.
Give us a bit of this, a bit of that. Not a whole lot of one thing is actually required of Hyron Edwards, just contribute a bit across the board.
To himself, he has one big ask, which is easy to produce.
Energy off the bench. To the redshirt senior reserve guard, it's not a stretch. Fit into the flow and provide a little juice.
When one takes a gander at Wednesday's final box score from Moby Arena, they'll see an 86-68 victory over Fresno State. They'll look down and out will pop David Roddy's career-best 26 points. They'll scan a bit more and see fellow freshman Isaiah Stevens had 21. That Adam Thistlewood helped apply the dagger with 15 of his own.
The nine from Edwards won't stand out. Nor will his three assists, a lead he shared with three other teammates. One should take note of the team-best three steals, because he infused the adrenaline on the defensive end.
"It's awesome. It's guys like him, and Kris Martin has done that," CSU coach Niko Medved said. "Hyron's energy was terrific. We weren't getting many deflections; again, I didn't think our energy was where it needed to be. He came in and tipped a couple of balls, really disrupted what they wanted to do and really injected some life in us. Then we started to look like we were having a little fun on the defensive end, which is what we needed to do."
The final score says blowout, but the first 14 minutes of the night were close, even with Roddy setting a physical tone in the paint early. The Bulldogs are stingy on defense, which the Rams needed to match.
When Edwards entered, that was his call to duty. It was what he charged himself to do for his team, starting with squaring up the opposition. He filled passing lanes, producing a couple of steals which led to a Rams break.
Defense fueling offense is never a bad tactic.
"Whatever my teammates and coaches want out of me, that's going in and just playing hard, so that's what I do," he said. "That's pretty easy, coming from me.
"Man, the energy was there. I appreciate all the fans for coming out. My energy is like a life saver for us. If I bring energy, then my guys are going to feel the same thing. Just bringing tenaciousness to my defense, it shows these guys when I do come off the bench, I'm ready every time."
His ball-hawking led to easy offense, some of which he produced himself. As the Rams used a 13-0 run late in the first half to create some separation, one of the turnovers he created led to his own free throw, then he produced a steal and flew down the court for a monster dunk.
It brought the crowd to their feet, and his teammates off the bench. Too far, for one referee who issued a bench technical, but the moment was pure. Edwards had ignited the arena. Medved said it's a no-no, but hey, guys are trying to have a little fun, and the play was special.
"His energy is incredible. He's a little Energizer Bunny," Thistlewood said. "He's got so much grit on defense for us, and he just takes our defense to a whole new level, and we feed off that. When a guy can get going like that, it's contagious, and that's what we needed at that point and time."
To Edwards, the style of play is his calling card. The dunk, well, that was a rare exclamation point. Thistlewood gave him some style points, too.
"Man, my guys don't see me dunk like that much," he joked. "When I do it in a game, my teammates got hyped. I looked over and the ref was signaling a tech, and I didn't know why. They told me why, and I smiled a bit."
So did his coach. Not at the T, but at the aftershock of Edwards' entire night. The game may be a blowout, but the Rams needed a spark to catch fire. The way the team is playing right now, it could come from anyone on any given night.
Wednesday, Edwards – just following orders -- took his turn, and his timing was perfect.
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