So far, this has been my worst pick in Pappy's Predictions.
They are 6-9, with three non-D1 wins among the six. They beat Wright State, which is usually a tough program, took Rice to 3OT on the road, and played Texas to within 7 and Gonzaga to within 9. And Fayetteville to within 12, for that matter. So they have had their moments.
They are currently on a 4-game losing streak, so as someone already has pointed out, they are going to be desparate for a win.
They are undersized, starting 6-7, 6-6, 6-2 across the front line, so we will have a distinct size advantage, but with USA that seldom matters. They can bring Juricek at 6-11 off the bench.
Rubit is up to his old tricks, averaging 16.4 and 9.8. And, as a new wrinkle, he is hitting 43% from the arc, to make him all that much harder to defend. As usual, Rubit shoots a TON of free throws (109 so far). Mychal Ammons is averaging 10.3 and 7.4 as his help in the post. Antoine Allen is their main perimeter scoring threat.
Their perimeter defense is really good: opponents shoot only 29.4% from the arc, while they shoot 35.5% as a team, and 39% of their attempts are 3-pointers. They are plus-3 on the boards. they do not shoot very well overall (40%), so overall it looks like they have de-emphasized their post game this season in favor of the perimeter. It looks like they have an 8-man rotation.
I can still see Rubit just killing us at the Jack last season, but they do not seem to be firing on all cylinders quite as well this year.
(01-07-2014 12:21 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote: [ -> ]So far, this has been my worst pick in Pappy's Predictions.
They are 6-9, with three non-D1 wins among the six. They beat Wright State, which is usually a tough program, took Rice to 3OT on the road, and played Texas to within 7 and Gonzaga to within 9. And Fayetteville to within 12, for that matter. So they have had their moments.
They are currently on a 4-game losing streak, so as someone already has pointed out, they are going to be desparate for a win.
They are undersized, starting 6-7, 6-6, 6-2 across the front line, so we will have a distinct size advantage, but with USA that seldom matters. They can bring Juricek at 6-11 off the bench.
Rubit is up to his old tricks, averaging 16.4 and 9.8. And, as a new wrinkle, he is hitting 43% from the arc, to make him all that much harder to defend. As usual, Rubit shoots a TON of free throws (109 so far). Mychal Ammons is averaging 10.3 and 7.4 as his help in the post. Antoine Allen is their main perimeter scoring threat.
Their perimeter defense is really good: opponents shoot only 29.4% from the arc, while they shoot 35.5% as a team, and 39% of their attempts are 3-pointers. They are plus-3 on the boards. they do not shoot very well overall (40%), so overall it looks like they have de-emphasized their post game this season in favor of the perimeter. It looks like they have an 8-man rotation.
I can still see Rubit just killing us at the Jack last season, but they do not seem to be firing on all cylinders quite as well this year.
You can bet they'll bring their "A" game against us.
(01-07-2014 12:24 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote: [ -> ]http://southalabama.247sports.com/Board/...le-59456/1
I also think they will bring their "A" game after an 0-2 start. I thought they would be very good this year and expected them to beat the pigs at Verizon, since that's basically an away game for the hogs. UAF may actually be better than I thought, so that may not be a bad loss. USA will be a solid Sun Belt team but realistically will need a win in Arkansas to be in the conversation for the regular season title. Hopefully, the win (if it happens) will be in Jonesboro, not Little Rock.
One of our "musts" for this game has to be a fast start. They probably have their dobbers down and we do not need to let them get on a big run early. This is also going to be a benchmark game for James White, going toe-to-toe with the best post player in the conference.
(01-07-2014 07:01 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote: [ -> ]One of our "musts" for this game has to be a fast start. They probably have their dobbers down and we do not need to let them get on a big run early. This is also going to be a benchmark game for James White, going toe-to-toe with the best post player in the conference.
James and 'Will might not be assigned early on to guard Rubit. Possibly Gus to beat on him awhile and pick up fouls that James and Will can't afford to give. Maybe even Leroy will get on Rubit. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.
(01-07-2014 11:18 PM)outsideualr Wrote: [ -> ] (01-07-2014 07:01 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote: [ -> ]One of our "musts" for this game has to be a fast start. They probably have their dobbers down and we do not need to let them get on a big run early. This is also going to be a benchmark game for James White, going toe-to-toe with the best post player in the conference.
James and 'Will might not be assigned early on to guard Rubit. Possibly Gus to beat on him awhile and pick up fouls that James and Will can't afford to give. Maybe even Leroy will get on Rubit. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Need to let Poulter come in an bang on Rubit for a little while.
(01-07-2014 11:38 PM)mjs Wrote: [ -> ] (01-07-2014 11:18 PM)outsideualr Wrote: [ -> ] (01-07-2014 07:01 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote: [ -> ]One of our "musts" for this game has to be a fast start. They probably have their dobbers down and we do not need to let them get on a big run early. This is also going to be a benchmark game for James White, going toe-to-toe with the best post player in the conference.
James and 'Will might not be assigned early on to guard Rubit. Possibly Gus to beat on him awhile and pick up fouls that James and Will can't afford to give. Maybe even Leroy will get on Rubit. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Need to let Poulter come in an bang on Rubit for a little while.
Maybe just lean on him. That could hurt!
FROM HIS BLOG:
http://www.steveshields.com/latest.html
Once again, I think rebounding will be a critical stat in our South Alabama on Thursday night. You look at a guy like Augustine Rubit, one of the premiere players in our league, he has almost as many offensive rebounds as defensive rebounds. He’s pulled down 67 offensive rebounds this season and 80 defensive rebounds. You always talk about guys that average 2.5 offensive boards a game being great on the glass. Well, he averages 4.5 offensive rebounds per game. He’s also improved his game to where he can stretch you out to the 3-point line now. Mychal Ammons is another big concern for us. He and Rubit are two guys that have been a consistent presence inside for a few years now. Ammons can face up and drive it so well and is another good offensive rebounder. As a team, they average 12.8 offensive rebounds per game, so we’ll need to do a good job on the defensive glass.
South Alabama has played a very tough non-conference schedule this year. They led for much of the game before losing at Texas in their second game of the year. You look at their last four games, they played Arkansas in Verizon Arena, were at New Mexico State and opened Sun Belt play with Western Kentucky and Georgia State. They’ve had a tough stretch, but their schedule has been extremely difficult.
Matthew Graves is in his first year as head coach after being on Brad Stevens’ staff at Butler and does an excellent job. We know we’ll have to be able to handle ball screens and will need to continue to improve our transition defense.
Third time we have said it already in this conference season, but this is a critical game.
Tweaky and I may try to make the Troy game. We sure would like for us to be undefeated in conference still. No pressure, guys!
USA has not won a D1 game since Houston Baptist on 24 November.
Interesting that when USA came here last year, Juricek, the 6-11 kid, got a good bit of PT, but he has had almost none this year.
Rubit has been putting up good numbers this year, but I don't think he has been as assertive in the lane as previous years.
On his radio show Matthew Graves said that Aug needs to be more selfish with the ball.