SMU, statistically

[ctt8410]

#1 offense in conference play at 1.11 points per possession. Their only real weakness is the turnovers (20% of their possessions).

#1 in 2-point% at 53.7% and #1 in offensive rebounding%. Moreira, Kennedy, and Cunningham are all above 58% inside the arc (for reference, Rashad Smith is 52%). Ben Moore is the weak link. I have no idea why he starts over Kennedy at this point.

Nic Moore is the only outside threat at 45% on 5 attempts/game. Emelogu is 29% on ~2 attempts/game. Nobody else attempts more than 1 per game.


Defensively, they're 4th in the conference behind Tulsa, Temple, and Cincinnati. No real weaknesses, but they do give up a ton of 3-point attempts (nearly half of all shot attempts are from behind the arc). At 27% in conference play, we'll need to resist the urge to fall in love with the deep ball.

Overall, it's not a bad matchup. I think the key will be keeping them off the offensive glass and beating them down the floor in transition for easy baskets.

 

[nevadanatural]

I suspect some of the reason for that high % of opponents shots from deep may be connected to the quality of their interior defense.

 

[TU_BLA]

Nevada is right. Their inside ayers are active with some really long wing spans. Their guards also double quickly which leaves the open kick out. What I noticed against Cincinnati is that SMU will get lazy on defense at times. They won't rotate or help when the ball is switched. Smith will be the key. If he (or even Dre) can hit the mid-range jumpers and draw Moreira and Kennedy away from the basket, we have the advantage with Shaq and Juice on the offensive glass versus their guards. Also, we tend to use a different strategy on the defensive glass and thus why Shaq, Juice, and Curtis get so many rebounds compared to your traditional guards. I always thought Memphis was aggressive on the glass and we just destroyed them on both ends. I think we have the glass advantage again tomorrow
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[astonmartin708_rivals]

I would get Moore switched onto juice and have James post him up... When we had all of the front court injuries a couple years ago, James did some training with our bigs... He could absolutely dominate Moore who is tiny if we cleared everyone else out. If their bigs came to double it would leave one of our post players open.

 

[mehwhocares]

Originally posted by astonmartin708:
I would get Moore switched onto juice and have James post him up... When we had all of the front court injuries a couple years ago, James did some training with our bigs... He could absolutely dominate Moore who is tiny if we cleared everyone else out. If their bigs came to double it would leave one of our post players open.

Doubt they play man.

 

[astonmartin708_rivals]

They'll probably switch in and out of a couple defenses.

 

[I.I.]

Our rebounding and loose ball gets have been the key to a lot of the recent wins. Even though we lack height, the rebounding aggressiveness is the best I have seen in a long time, especially guard rebounding.

 

[mehwhocares]

Originally posted by I.I.:

Our rebounding and loose ball gets have been the key to a lot of the recent wins. Even though we lack height, the rebounding aggressiveness is the best I have seen in a long time, especially guard rebounding.

We've been excellent at tipping balls to teammates. OU killed us with that, and we've mastered it of late.

 

[t-townpod]

Key is controlling Moore. Cincy shut him down. If he gets going smu is very good

 

[TUBballJunkie]

It's not a bad matchup at all.

War is on to tomorrow.

 

[TU_BLA]

T-Town is right. And I think defensively we will be able to frustrate him like we did to Boatright. Difference is Moore has more help at SMU
Posted from Rivals Mobile

 

[mehwhocares]

Originally posted by TU_BLA:
T-Town is right. And I think defensively we will be able to frustrate him like we did to Boatright. Difference is Moore has more help at SMU
Posted from Rivals Mobile

He's not a very physical guard. He's had trouble scoring against really good backcourts. The key probably is Shaq and James. Need both tonight. I've always been a worry about yourself first guy. We won't win if those guys aren't playing at a high level.

 

[Loca5174]

SMU has been playing the bottom tier of the conference. They have been winning those games. They can't beat Cincinnati and they haven't played UCONN. They barely beat temple. Th thing that has been the game winner for us is that the teams in the conference have trouble against our defense. SMU hasn't proven anything to me during their conference play. I'm looking at a 10 point win tonite. I don't care how they have been shooting. THEY HAVENT PLAYED THE HURRICANE!!!!

Just saying.

 

[rabidTU]

Originally posted by TU_BLA:
T-Town is right. And I think defensively we will be able to frustrate him like we did to Boatright. Difference is Moore has more help at SMU

Posted from Rivals Mobile

I think we may be overlooking something and thats the way the game will be called. If the refs let it get physical inside, that favors Kennedy, Cunningham and and Moriera. Our bigs tend to pick up the ticky tack fouls, they (SMU) usually don't. What I want to see is a game where the refs watch the body physical action away from the ball inside. The SMU bigs also try to intimidate as well. That didn't work against Cincy who is better at it.