BBall Exhibition

[MustangSally]

I'm watching this right now on my all-access vision or whatever its called. Is anyone else getting sound? I assume during the regular season we'll have the radio broadcasts and some little score and clock boxes on the screen, but right now it's pretty plain.

Nice to be able to watch it at least!

[MustangSally]

Ok looks like we won 73-51.

Feel free to comment if you attended, let us know how every player did. I watched what I could, but the numbers on the jerseys were hard to see from the view I had.

[The XtC]

I promised Bus I'd post a summary, so here goes:

Ouchita Baptist is a D2 school in Arkansas. Their basketball team had pretty good size and athleticism for a D2 team, and with 2 kids at 6'9", their starting lineup was actually taller than ours. They brought a large and fairly boisterous group of fans with them, probably more fans than most of the WAC teams brought to Moody in the last few years. They were fairly fired up about playing a Division 1 team, and came out with alot of intensity. After five minutes, they were holding onto the lead. Our team came out shooting a little cold, and not quite as intense. Its not that they were coasting, but they were probably not expecting to be in a dogfight, either. Once they settled in and started hitting some shots, they regained they lead and steadily pulled away. Their largest lead was 30 points. OBU stayed agressive all the way to the end, and made the final score a little closer, but SMU lead by 20 or more for the entire 2nd half. This was a good test, a game where every player could get some minutes, but the opponent never backed down and kept testing us the whole way.

SMU's starting 5 were Dez Willingham, Derek Roberts, Devon Pearson, Ike Ofeogbu, and Paulius Ritter.
Dez started at the point, and did everything well. He's a true point guard, who runs the offense first, and looks for his own shot second. He shot very well (5/7 from the floor, 3/4 from the arc) and played some minutes at shooting guard, with Jon Killen running the point. Dez ran the offense, distributed the ball, and was active on defense. Good performance in all phases.
Derek Roberts lead the team with 20 points, most coming from strong drives to the basket. He made his first shot from 3-point range, but his mid-range jumper wasnt really falling. He was very aggressive in the lane, though, and took the ball hard to the rim.
Devon Pearson started at 3, but also played some minutes at 4. He finished with a double-double (16 points, 14 boards) and also had a very strong all-around effort. No weaknesses or criticisms of Devon, he did everything well.
Ike Ofeogbu crashed the boards and had a couple of nice dunks at the offensive end. He's going to be outsized at center, against alot of teams on our schedule, though. The team played almost entirely man to man tonight, but may need to give Ike more help in the paint against better post players.
Paulius Ritter played decently, he seemed more mobile than last year, but he wasnt smart with his fouls. He picked up 3 fouls on moving screens, and got his 5th foul just 12 seconds after his 4th, so he was out of the game with 12 minutes left in the 2nd half. Ike also had 4 fouls, so Bryan Morris had to play a great deal of the 2nd half, and Pearson had to spend more time at 4, rather than his natural position. We're too thin in the frontcourt for anyone to make that kind of foolish foul, even in an exhibition game.
Bryan Epps made his first shot from 3-point range, but then went prety cold. He didnt score again until late in the game. Epps was part of the rotation in the front court, but he played 3 while Pearson moved to 4.
Jon Killen played a solid game. He did get his pocket picked once, but he dished out 7 assists, and overall did a nice job of running the offense. He looks like a dependable backup at point guard.
Matt Williams played a decent number of minutes, but didnt really get any good looks at the basket. He finished without any points.

Overall:
Good points: Good team speed and athleticism. We executed the offense well, got several lay-ups from backdoor plays. Pressure defense forced some turnovers.

Areas of concern: Lack of height, and limited scoring in the post. Poor free throw shooting (10/18). Jump shots can run hot and cold.

I think thats it. Overall it was a good opportunity for the team to get some work in against a team that tried to push them hard. Thats what exhibitions are for.

[Hoop Fan]

Did Morris show anything positive in his minutes? Is his conditioning improving?

Dez and Hopkins could be a dynamic backcourt. Dez might be the best thing that ever happened for BHop. Need Rack to be a factor. When is he going to be available?

[The XtC]

Morris made his first basket, a strong layup in traffic, but bricked everything he shot from more than 2 feet away. On defense he was kind of flat footed. He's in better condition than he was a couple of months ago, he can get up and down the court without dieing, but he still isnt in what I would call "good" condition.

Dez and Bryan will make a dynamic backcourt, but a short one. With Bryan at, and everyone else shifting over a spot (Roberts to 3, Pearson to 4) we're going to be shorter at every spot on the court, against alot of teams. We have the speed to compensate, but not sure if we have the cardio and depth to run for a full 40 minutes.

[The XtC]

Rackauskas dressed for practice on Friday, but isnt able to do all the drills yet. He'll sit out of the next exhibition game, and possibly play in the regular season opener.

[BUS]

That you XTC - And thank you for great cooking Saturday.

Maybe Cynthia will be well for the UTEP game!!

[Treadway21]

Thanks for the information. The new blood on the BBall squad should make for an interesting year.