Justin Edwards ready to make impact on K-State basketball team

MANHATTAN — Despite being hidden away from public view, allowed only to practice while sitting out a transfer year, word spread about Justin Edwards and the explosiveness he can bring to the Kansas State basketball team.

Teammates and coaches talked about Edwards’ athleticism, his jumping ability with a 42-inch vertical leap and his ability to score. Marcus Foster, the Wildcats’ freshman star this past season, predicted Edwards will be the team’s leading scorer next season.

“He told me that, but I don’t know,” Edwards said Tuesday at K-State’s postseason team banquet. “We’re going to have a lot of firepower next year.”

The 6-foot-4 transfer from Maine is expected to be an impact player in the 2014-15 season, and coach Bruce Weber found Foster’s prediction interesting.

“Marcus can be pretty humble,” Weber said. “He’s the guy who said he would average six (points) and he averaged 15. Even though Marcus said that, Justin can play. He’s going to have to do it in live competition and guard people, but we’ll have to see as we go on.”

Edwards and Foster should form a potent 1-2 scoring punch for a team that struggled to find offensive consistency during a 2013-14 season. He has high expectations for himself but as of now doesn’t feel a burden of lofty expectations from others.

“I don’t feel any pressure,” Edwards said. “It will be exciting to play, but I don’t feel any pressure.”

That may change once the season rolls around, but for now Edwards — who can play the 2-guard or 3-forward — is just focusing on his return to action.

“It’s been a long year and I’m excited to get out there and play in front of everyone and play for my team,” he said. “It was really tough, especially knowing you could help the team out and not being able to play. It’s been a tough year but I used it to get better as a player.

“Defense and ball-handling are the main things I worked on. I worked a lot with coach Weber and coach (Chester) Frazier on my shot.”

Edwards will be a junior after playing two years at Maine. He was on the America East Conference all-rookie team his freshman season when he averaged 13.9 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.4 steals. As a sophomore he was second team all-conference with a 15.3 scoring average, 5.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.7 steals.

“The first thing you’ll see is his jumping ability is off the charts,” Weber said. “He’s gained somewhere between 16 and 20 pounds since he got here, pretty much all muscle. The thing we didn’t expect is he really shoots the ball well, especially from the 3-point line.

“He was a tough opponent on the scout squad. A lot of TV people who came to prep the day before the game, one of the first things they’d say afterward is, ‘Dang, that guy is good.’”

When he decided to transfer from Maine — choosing K-State over Fresno State, Missouri and George Washington — the Whitby, Ontario native said he wanted to challenge himself at a higher level. Watching Big 12 play from the sidelines, he got a glimpse of what that will take.

“It’s a tough conference,” he said. “All the guards in the conference are really good and they are big and physical.

“Definitely, I think I’m way better than what I was than when I first came here. I just have to keep working hard to keep improving, but I’m excited about what we can do as a team next year.”