'I didn't want to take it easy': Edwards takes on leadership role for University of Houston basketball team

The presence of Marcus Sasser and Tramon Mark are sorely missed on the University of Houston men's basketball team this season, but helping to fill the void is Kyler Edwards. 

The 11th-ranked Cougars are keeping their head above water largely on the back of Edwards' play, who has stepped up in the absence of two critical components of the team. Edwards was a highly recruited prospect out of high school and was on the radar of UH scouts long before the school was on his radar. 

“At the time, we weren’t who we are today. Kyler always really liked what we did with the guards and the trajectory of the program. We had a lot of action (in his recruitment) we maybe really shouldn’t have. We didn’t have the program cachet that we do now,” Kellen Sampson, the assistant coach and presumed future coach for UH, said.

Edwards attended two other schools before finally ending up with the Cougars, but always seemed to cross paths with the team wherever he went. He played the team during his first two seasons at Texas Tech, but ended up leaving the Cougars to fill the void left by departing seniors on the Cougars. His close connection to Kelvin Sampson helped immensely, and created a nearly certain recruitment process. 

“(Kyler) knew where he wanted to go. We knew that’s who we wanted. It was about as foolproof of a recruitment as one could have,” Sampson said.

The losses of guards Sasser and Mark have introduced a challenging turn to the season for the Cougars, but it's not preventing Edwards and the rest of the team from shining in their absence. So far, Edwards has been as advertising, taking on a key role and being a double-figure scoring threat on the court. 

“I wanted to go somewhere where the culture was already established and players I can win with. A lot of players want to transfer, take the easy route their last year. I didn’t want to take it easy. I wanted to go the path less chosen and come here and boost my game and get better,” Edwards said.

UH has won 10 of its last 11 games and has climbed the rankings to No. 11 in the latest AP poll.