MBB v. Southern (Nov. 15)
Quick Preview (sorry title should say Nov. 16):
Southern is 1-1. They beat Tulane (KP 145) and lost to Louisville by 12 (KP 51). Another iffy matchup for our offense, but a good one at this stage. Sean Woods's teams typically defend the three point line well, and his team this year has done just that. Tulane and Louisville combined shot just 25.5% from 3. But largely due to a lack of size, they've really struggled defending inside. So beyond just making our 3s, the key will be whether we can attack the paint and force their defense to collapse. Would not be a surprise if they're willing to let us try to beat them in the paint - they know that if we shoot sub-30% from 3, they can win regardless of what we do around the basket. On the offensive side, Woods's philosophy is counter to modern analytics in that his teams take a lot of 2PT jumpers. 31.3% of shots in 2019-20 (69th in the country), 35.2% of shots in 2020-2021 (27th in the country), 36.2% of shots so far in 2021-2022 (30th in the country). And while they don't shoot 2PT jumpers poorly, they probably don't shoot them well enough to justify the volume. His teams also typically play very fast in transition, although they haven't run as much this year as they usually do (quite possibly because it seems like they only have 6-7 playable bodies).
Starting lineup will likely be:
5 - Damien Sears (6-7, Senior)... 5.0 points, 11.0 rebounds, 5-17 FG, 6 TOs
4 - Tyrone Lyons (6-7, Junior)... 11.5 points, 5.0 rebounds,
3 - Terrell Williams (6-6, Soph)... 6.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2-12 FG
2 - PJ Byrd (6-1, Junior)... 10.5 points, 5.0 assists, 4-7 3PT (very possibly somebody who could have ended up at Rice, because we recruited him and he committed to play for Mike Rhoades at VCU)
1 - Jayden Sadler (6-1, Senior)... 11.5 points, 7.5 assists
Really the only other notable contributor is Brion Whitley (also a former Rice target), who will come off the bench and try to shoot whenever he touches the ball. He's taken 21 shots, 15 of them from three, and has 0 assists.
(This post was last modified: 11-15-2021 09:52 PM by elw4796.)
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