RALEIGH, N.C. — Baylor freshman VJ Edgecombe calmly stepped to the free throw line. His team led Mississippi State 73-72 with nine seconds remaining in its opening-round game of the NCAA Tournament. Less than a minute earlier, Edgecombe, a 6-foot-5 guard, had attacked the basket and seemingly finished a crafty and-one layup. He was so swept up in the moment that he didn’t even realize the refs called the foul on the ground.
Edgecombe was understandably shocked. He admits that earlier in the year such a questionable call might have derailed him. “Definitely becoming more mature mentally,” Edgecombe tells Hoops HQ, when asked about his growth throughout this season. “Physically I developed too, but mentally is where I feel like I’ve grown the most. In a situation like that, I could have just taken myself out of it. I saw they took away my and-one, I could have just dropped my head.”
Instead, Edgecombe stayed focused and level-headed, and when he was sent to the free throw line shortly after for the biggest shots of the day, he buried both. Baylor went on to get the win 75-72, setting up a meeting with No. 1 Duke on Sunday at the Lenovo Center.
“His confidence has grown a lot during the season,” 6-foot-4 senior guard Jayden Nunn tells Hoops HQ about Edgecombe. “Even during the offseason, I saw it in him. I knew he was capable of doing way more. I knew his confidence was going to grow. And he’s very mature for his age. To take that leadership role and want the ball at the end and make the free throws — we trusted him to close the game out, for sure.”
Baylor’s clash with Duke will feature several prominent NBA draft prospects. The Blue Devils have three projected lottery picks in 6-foot-9 freshman forward Cooper Flagg, 7-foot-2 freshman center Khaman Maluach and 6-foot-7 freshman wing Kon Knueppel. Edgecombe is likely to be taken in the top five. “He’s a pro,” teammate Jeremy Roach, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, says about Edgecombe. “He acts like a pro. He works like a pro. I’ve been telling him all week — really all year — just be you. He’s different.”
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Edgecombe, who originally hails from the Bahamas and was a five-star recruit out of Long Island Lutheran High School, got off to a slow start this season, shooting 33.9 percent from the field and 22.7 percent from three through his first five outings. In hindsight, he may have let those struggles affect him too much mentally. There was a tremendous amount of pressure on him just given his reputation.
Amid that tough stretch, he wisely sought out the guidance of veterans on the roster. At one point, he approached senior Norchad Omier, a 6-foot-7 forward, and asked, “How do you deal with a slump?” Omier advised him to stop thinking about it and just trust his work. “I didn’t expect him to ask me that,” Omier tells Hoops HQ. “I’m like, ‘You’re having a slump?’ I didn’t even think about it that way.”
Edgecombe leaned heavily on 6-foot-7 senior guard Jalen Celestine as well. “He’s a humble superstar, and he’s always going to try to get help from anyone,” Celestine tells Hoops HQ. “I feel like he came in with such a high expectation of himself that when he wasn’t doing that at first, he kind of got in his own head. I told him, ‘Hard times are going to come. They’re going to pass. Just keep going.’ And as you can see, that’s what he’s been doing.”
It took experience for Edgecombe to adjust to the college game, but as a 19-year-old kid, he also just needed time to mature outside of basketball. “I was able to grow as a man off the court, which helps me on the court,” Edgecombe says. “If things are not going my way on the court, how else can I provide? Will I get down on myself?” He has improved at handling adversity and taking the highs and lows in stride. “It’s just a learning process,” he adds. “I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason. There was a reason why I didn’t come out hot. Maybe it would have been something different with this team or maybe I would’ve been too high on myself thinking I’m all that. I’m glad it happened. Now is all that matters. I feel like I’ve grown as an individual.”
By mid-December, Edgecombe looked like a different player. He averaged 16.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.9 steals in conference play, while shooting 45.4 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from three. According to teammates, he has become more of a leader in the locker room and someone who “wants the big shot,” as Omier put it.
With his versatility and explosive athleticism, Edgecombe has drawn comparisons to both Dwyane Wade and Russell Westbrook. “VJ’s one of those guys that is a great teammate, he’s a winner and he affects every facet of the game,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “He’s not somebody that has to have the ball. He’s not someone that has to score. He can affect it defensively. He wants to guard the other team’s best player. He wants to get a double double on the glass. He gets as excited with an assist as he does a bucket. So when you coach somebody like that, it’s easy because you know he’s going to play hard no matter if he’s shooting or not.”
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At the same time, the challenge for Drew has been making sure Edgecombe remains aggressive offensively. Baylor is loaded with talented guards, but the team is a lot more dangerous when Edgecombe is in attack mode. The Bears will need all the scoring they can get against Duke, which ranks 14th in the country in points per game (83.0) and began the NCAA Tournament with a 93-49 rout of No. 16 Mount St. Mary’s. The Blue Devils also rank in the top five in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom.
On Saturday, Duke coach Jon Scheyer called Edgecombe “a difficult matchup” and emphasized the importance of keeping the lightning quick wing away from the basket. “He makes it hard on you,” Scheyer said. “He does a great job of getting there.”
Edgecombe says he’s approaching the contest with the same mindset he brought into his first March Madness game: do whatever it takes to help his team. It will be a hostile environment — the Lenovo Center is just a 30-minute drive from Durham — and Duke is sure to land some haymakers, but Edgecombe is much better equipped to handle whatever obstacles arise. “This is the best time of the year and one of the biggest stages,” he says. “I know my teammates have confidence in me. I just want to deliver.”
