Scouting Report: Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers

The Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers are no stranger to The Kentucky Classic. Coach Dan Engelstad brought his group down for the previously named BBN Showcase in 2019 losing to the ‘Cats 82-62. Now, fresh off a trip to the NCAA Tournament, the Mountaineers are back in Lexington for tonight’s 7:00 p.m. tipoff at Rupp Arena.

Sitting at 1-2 with their lone win coming against a Division III opponent, the start of the season hasn’t been pretty for the Mountaineers. They began with a 91-51 beatdown at Villanova and most recently lost 80-60 at Saint Joseph’s in a game that was never close. Despite making the NCAA Tournament last season, this team simply isn’t very good. They were 8-10 on February 20th before rattling off four straight wins on the way to an automatic bid out of the Northeast Conference.

Historically, the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers play at a snail’s pace and try to score around the basket. This is a team that returns four starters, but the talent just isn’t there to compete with a team like Kentucky. Let’s dive into the scouting report for more information on the Mountaineers.

Mount St. Mary’s Personnel

Starters

#5 Jalen Benjamin: 5’10” 160 lbs, Junior Point Guard

11.0 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 5.0 apg

Super quick, small point guard. Very aggressive with the ball in his hands. Over half of his shots are 3’s. Need to be tight to take away the 3-point attempts. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase him off of downscreens and flares. Stunt and fake off of him on the perimeter but then give a hard closeout to take away the 3’s. He wants to shoot jump shots. Contest everything. No right hand drives. Always coming back right to finish. Driving to pass the deeper he takes it. Don’t over help when he drives. Make him finish contested 2’s. More shots than points for him.

#23 Josh Reaves: 6’4″ 205 lbs, Sophomore Guard

8.0 ppg, 0.7 rpg, 0.3 apg

SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s! 12 of 20 shots have been 3’s. Last year, 106 of 156 shots were 3’s. Closeout in order to take away his 3-point attempts. He really wants to catch and shoot. Be tight to him at all times to take away his attempts. If he isn’t dribbling you aren’t close enough. Chase him off of downscreens and flares. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. No help off of him. Make him put it on the floor. Contest everything. No 3’s.

#13 Mezie Offurum: 6’8″ 230 lbs, Senior Forward

7.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1.7 apg

Big, strong forward. Really wants to attack closeouts when he is on the perimeter. Closeout SHORT!!! No right hand drives! He is looking to drive it right when he is on the perimeter. Be ready to be physical as he brings it at you. Play off of him when he doesn’t have it. Be all the way in help and then closeout short. If he catches it inside he wants to score with his right hand over his left shoulder. Must go find him and box him out when the shot goes up. Great offensive rebounder. Be physical! No right hand drives.

#22 Nana Opoku: 6’9″ 215 lbs, Redshirt Senior Forward

9.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1.0 apg

Athletic, long 4-man. He is a non-shooter. You can play way off of him when he doesn’t have it. Closeout short. He wants to drive it right. No right hand drives!!! Really likes to drive it from the high post area. Play off of him and do not get beat going right. Right hand, left shoulder when he catches it inside. Get him off of the block. Be physical. His percentages go down the further off the block you make him catch it. Excellent offensive rebounder. BOX OUT!!!

#42 Malik Jefferson: 6’9″ 230 lbs, Senior Forward

13.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 0.7 apg

Super strong post player. Non-shooter. You can play way off of him when he doesn’t have it. Closeout short. Unique player as he shoots free throws right handed but wants to score everything with his left. Left hand, right shoulder in the post. Really wants to get to his right shoulder. Be physical with him and make him score it inside with his right hand. No deep post caches. Make him score everything over you. Bad free throw shooter. Foul if you are beat. No and-1’s. Must box him out hard when the shot goes up.

Bench

#1 Dakota Leffew: 6’5″ 185 lbs, Sophomore Guard

9.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.0 apg

Talented backup guard. Play him straight up. Capable shooter but really aggressive trying to drive it right. No right hand drives! Just closeout with high hands to contest the obvious catch and shoot and then bounce back to guard the right hand drive. Help off of him when he doesn’t have it then closeout with high hands. Athletic. Contest everything.

#2 Deandre Thomas: 6’5″ 195, Senior Guard

5.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 3.0 apg

Good shooter. Need to be there to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. Chase him off of downscreens and flares. Looking to shoot jump shots. Contest everything. Be ready to closeout out to him to take away the catch-and-shoot. Will handle the ball when he comes in there. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs.

#3 Jaylin Gibson: 6’3″ 190 lbs, Freshman Guard

5.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 0.7 apg

Solid shooter. Need to be ready to contest from 3-point range. Play him straight up. Closeout with your hands up to contest the obvious catch and shoot and then bounce back. Chase him off of downscreens and flares. Contest everything.

#24 Frantisek Barton: 6’7″ 210 lbs, Sophomore Forward

2.0 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 0.7 apg

Backup forward. Not really looking to score. Just comes in as a screener and defender. Ballscreens and rolls to the basket. Right hand, left shoulder inside. Be physical with him. Box out!

Mount St. Mary’s Offense

When a lot of college basketball is going to playing fast and shooting 3’s, the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers are pretty much doing the opposite. There aren’t many teams in the country that play slower or shoot less 3’s. In their two Division I games this season they are just 6/23 from beyond the arc and have scored 51 and 60 points respectively.

Offensively they do run some really interesting ballscreen action in the half court that can be hard to guard. Somewhat similar to what we guard at Vanderbilt, the Mountaineers will ballscreen from a lot of different angles. Also, they will get into their actions from a bunch of different ways. Unfortunately they simply don’t have the personnel to make some of their offensive scheme work.

We must really pack things in once again defensively like we did against Robert Morris and turn them into a jump shooting team. The more 3-point attempts they have at the end of the night the better. Cut off the driving lanes and it will be hard for them to do what they want to do.

Wing Ballscreen From Baseline Runner

This is one of their favorite half court actions to set a wing ballscreen. In this clip they bring #1 Laffew off of a staggered baseline pindown to get open on the right wing. Once he gets a catch, their forwards interchange to create a longer run into the ballscreen which is harder to hedge. This allows Leffew to turn the corner, get downhill, and use his athleticism and length to know it the little floater.

Horns Ballscreen

This is a simple action that we see a lot that the Mountaineers go to quite a bit. Out of a Horns alignment they will initiate the offense with the elbow ballscreen and throw the ball back to the popping forward at the top of the key. From there, they are just into their ballscreen offense on the wing. #23 Reaves only wants to shoot jump shots and is allowed to come off of this ballscreen way too comfortable. Get over the ballscreen and give a hard contest. If you are going to switch, you have to switch to take away the jumper.

Ballscreen/Motion Offense

One aspect of the Mount St. Mary’s offense that can be hard to guard is that there isn’t a ton of structure to what they do offensively. It isn’t 4-around-1 Motion but it also isn’t a ballscreen/handoff continuity. It is more like a hybrid of the two. That obviously makes it hard to scout. So, it is important to just watch some clips like this to get a feel for what it looks like on a given possession.

They do set a lot of downhill ballscreens which means we need to be ready to switch as many of those as possible. #5 Benjamin gets along the baseline to throw the drift pass to #23 Reaves. We have to take away the 3’s from #23 because he is one of the only shooters and he ONLY wants to shoot 3’s.

Hammer Screen

This play was unsuccessful, but it is an important action to see on film. Similar to the clip above, because of the amount of downhill ballscreens they set, it opens up the opportunity to get to the hammer screen action. The play begins with a gut cut to get open and the downhill ballscreen sneaks up to get set as that is going on. The point guard who initiates the action then starts to work towards the corner off the hammer screen as the ball handler attacks the baseline to throw the drift pass. This is the type of play you just have to be able to feel coming in live action because of the film study you’ve done prior to the game.

Downscreen to Handoff

This is a good action for their point guard #5 Benjamin. On the first play of the second half they went to this downscreen to handoff action to allow him to get downhill. This is decent defense by Saint Joseph’s. Just stay on his hip to contest or switch if there is a lot of space.

Mount St. Mary’s Defense

Despite playing at a slow pace and not being very efficient offensively, the Mountaineers are much better on the defensive end either. This is a man-to-man team that will typically be playing three forwards. Their point guard is very small, but elsewhere they have strength and size at every position. We should be able to exploit some mismatches on the perimeter as they will have guys not comfortable guarding our 3’s and 4’s from beyond the arc or off of the dribble.

Keys to the Game vs. Mount St. Mary’s

• Pack it in. This team doesn’t hunt 3-pointers and they don’t shoot a good percentage anyway. We need to force them into taking 15-20 3’s tonight.
• Create turnovers. When they do drive it, bring help and take it off of them. Play more forwards than guards. Steals = transition baskets. Create 15 or more turnovers.
• Dominate the glass. This needs to be a calling card all season. They have bigger guys and average over 10 offensive rebounds a game. Hold them to single digits.
• Catch and shoot. We need to continue to hunt 3-point opportunities. Drive and kick and be ready to let it fly. Attempt 20+ 3’s.