Texas State

[Balatro Diabolus Ex]

Texas State held off a second half rally by UT-PanAm on Saturday, to earn their first win against a Div.1 team, this season. TSU has had three major weaknesses this season, rebounding, turnovers, and weak second halves. The Bobcats have been outscored 228-175 in the second half of games this year, and 3 times lost after leading at the half. Against UTPA, Texas State lead by 19 at halftime, but 30 turnovers by the home team allowed UTPA to fight their way back into the game. Texas State was able to hang on for the win because they out rebounded their opponent for the first time in several weeks.

Texas State lacks height and the Bobcats have been outrebounded by almost all of their opponents, including D2 Texas-A&M Intl. They were a short team to begin with, but got even shorter when Jonathan Sloan injured his ankle in their game with Arizona. For those who remember him, Sloan was originally an SMU verbal commit, but re-opened his recruiting after the coaching change. His return to Moody could have been one of this seasons more interesting stories, but he has not played since the injury, and there are no signs he will return tonight. At 6’8”, Sloan was Texas State’s tallest player, and losing him has left a real hole in the middle. Sloan was averaging 9 points and 4.5 rebounds per game when he was hurt.

Since Sloan went out, Texas State has tried a different starting lineup for every game, and no player has started in all 8 of their games. Eleven different players have started at least 1 game. The most consistent player for them has been forward Cameron Johnson, he’s started 7 of their 8 games, and in the game he didn’t start he came off the bench for 12 points and 7 rebounds. He’s currently the Bobcats leading scorer (13.5 ppg) and rebounder (8 rpg). At 6’7” and 210, Johnson is an undersized power forward, who really should be playing more on the wings, but he’s become Texas State’s inside threat by default, after Sloan went out. Despite a slender frame, Johnson plays tough in the paint, he goes hard to the basket, and has a soft touch on his jump shot from about 10-12 feet. Playing defense in the post has been a struggle for Johnson, usually covering players with a 2-3 inch height advantage he has picked up a lot of fouls. He’s only fouled out of one game, but finished 5 other games with 4 fouls. He has also not been a reliable free throw shooter, his 54% performance at the charity stripe this season is actually an improvement, for his career he’s a 49% free throw shooter.

Besides Johnson, Texas States only other 6’7” player is Emanuel Bidias A’Moute. A’moute is the twin brother of former UCLA and Milwaukee Bucks player Luc Mbah A’Moute, and his story is a fairly colorful one. Their family moved from Cameroon to New Mexico while the boys were in high school, and Emanuel played just one game his junior year in high school, but scored 42 points. Both brothers then transferred to a Montverde Prep school in Florida, where Luc shone, but Emanuel missed his entire senior year with a knee injury. Despite playing only 1 high school basketball game, Emanuel was offered a scholarship to UC-Santa Barbara, where he played in 24 games as a freshman, averaging about 8 minutes of playing time per game. He transferred to Kilgore Junior College in Texas for his sophomore year, where he averaged 8.7 points and 5 rebounds per game. His junior year at Texas State he averaged 6.4 points and 5 rebounds a game, but appeared in only 16 games before a season ending injury. So far this season he’s averaging 4.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, and has been in the starting lineup once. Emanuel is Texas States most physical inside player, but injuries have slowed him down over the years. In his life he’s only played 2 full seasons of basketball, without missing considerable time to injury. Emanuel’s twin brother Luc was the Pac-10 freshman of the year at UCLA and led the team in rebounding on the way to a Final Four appearance in 2008. Luc left school early to enter the NBA draft, and was taken in the second round by the Milwaukee Bucks. He started 52 games as a rookie, averaging 7.8 points and 6 rebounds per game. This year he has missed several games with a foot injury, but was back in the starting lineup last night as the Bucks lost to Cleveland.

The second leading scorer for Texas State is guard/forward John Ryback, a 6’5” senior averaging 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists per game. Ryback is very similar to TCU forward Edvinas Ruzgas, in style of play. To put it simply, he’s a bomber. He averages 8 shot attempts per game, 6 of them are from 3-point range, and he hits 43% of his shots from outside the arc. Ryback has started 7 of TSU’s 8 games, but his minutes have been inconsistent. He scored a career high 30 points against TCU, but then played only 17 minutes and did not attempt a 3-pointer in the win over UTPA.

It’s impossible to predict who else may start tonight, because literally every player has started at least once, but in the UTPA game John Bowman (6’4” So. Guard) had 10 points, JB Conley (6’5” Jr. forward) had 11 points off the bench, and Uriel Segura (6’3” Jr. Guard) had 10 points, 3 assists, and 7 turnovers. Segura leads the team in both assists and turnovers. Conley rarely starts, but he’s averaging 9.7 points per game, and he’s shooting 53% from outside the arc, he’s even more dangerous than Ryback.

Turnovers have killed Texas State, they average 19.3 turnovers per game, and have twice given the ball away 30 times in a game. They push the tempo because they would prefer to score in transition, rather than set up in a half court offense, because of their lack of size inside. Pressuring their guards would probably be a good idea, force them to give the ball up and its almost a guarantee that they will throw it away. Don’t play zone, Texas State doesn’t have any size inside, but they do have 2 guys that can bomb over a zone. Play tight man to man, and switch on the screens to keep someone tight on Ryback and Conley. Don’t worry about mismatches inside.

Texas State is 3-5, but 2 of those wins were against sub-D1 opponents. SMU and Texas State have 1 common opponent, the Bobcats lost to TCU 108-99 in triple OT, while SMU lost to the Frogs 60-53. Texas State made 15 of 41 shots from 3-point range against the Frogs. The good news is that TSU is a very poor perimeter defensive team, allowing their opponents to make 47% of their attempts from long range, so SMU should be able to break their shooting drought tonight.

[CalallenStang]

UTPA is horrible. A win over them means nothing.

If we don't win this game, can we let Lutz have control of the program?

[Charleston Pony]

but...will we even attempt to take advantage of that weak perimeter defense?

[RGV Pony]

but...will we even attempt to take advantage of that weak perimeter defense?

the writeup nothwithstanding, are you talking about us or them w/ the weak perimeter D

[SMU91]

Teams don't need to have height to play us. Just the ability to hit the 3.

[PonyDoh]

UTPA is horrible. A win over them means nothing.

If we don't win this game, can we let Lutz have control of the program?

I'm not going to lie, I'm interested in seeing what Lutz can bring. Something tells me he's uptempo and player friendly. Honestly, think what that guy has been through. Half the time he's been recruiting w/o the aid of an engaged staff. The whole '10 class are his guys etc. If Doh can't get it done soon, let's see us some Lutz

[CalallenStang]

UTPA is horrible. A win over them means nothing.

If we don't win this game, can we let Lutz have control of the program?

I'm not going to lie, I'm interested in seeing what Lutz can bring. Something tells me he's uptempo and player friendly. Honestly, think what that guy has been through. Half the time he's been recruiting w/o the aid of an engaged staff. The whole '10 class are his guys etc. If Doh can't get it done soon, let's see us some Lutz

Lutz was a great get for SMU; he and Lance Irvin were pretty player-friendly; don't know about the two Reggies as I haven't heard much about them.

[Adopted Hawk]

I am a big fan of Lutz. He has commited so much to this program with what I would classify as a one-man recruiting crusade. In additionk, Coach Lutz does have a great relationship with the players and is a trusted leader to all of the kids. I too am willing to give him a shot, mid-season to add some energy and passion to this team.

[smu diamond m]

just a quick note - they outscored us in the second half yesterday

[clasc1]

Texas State is 3-5, but 2 of those wins were against sub-D1 opponents. SMU and Texas State have 1 common opponent, the Bobcats lost to TCU 108-99 in triple OT, while SMU lost to the Frogs 60-53. Texas State made 15 of 41 shots from 3-point range against the Frogs. The good news is that TSU is a very poor perimeter defensive team, allowing their opponents to make 47% of their attempts from long range, so SMU should be able to break their shooting drought tonight.

great scouting.....

[smu diamond m]

..this game already happened