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Looks like Cincy might be able to compete with the middle of the pack in the AAC while this SMU team will compete with Wichita State, Tulsa and ECU for the bottom seeds hoping they might pull off a 1st round upset in the AAC Tourney. I will always believe an atmosphere in Moody like the one that existed in the Larry Brown era would make this team tough to beat at home and they might have enough talent to reach the mid level like Cincy and so many others falling in behind Houston

Both Phelps and Nutall shoot 5-17 today including 2-10 on their threes; also both go 1-2 on FTs and team only shoots 4-7 FTs in what was a very physical game today. Cincy only shot 7 FTs and was even worse hitting 3-7, giving our guys a chance at the end

We continued challenging Lakhin who finished with 10 boards and 8 blocks and was the difference in the end when we forced drives down the lane into him. He was a factor in Nutall hurrying that short 10 footer as well. The big 7 footer is a good rim protector

Used Stubhub and sat in the courtside seats in the corner for $44 all in.

So cold to start the game, and then it seemed like we missed 10-15 point blank range shots at the basket.

Phelps got stuffed on too many drives to the bucket.

Was a little surprised we were still in the game at the end, and the sparse crowd actually ramped up the noise at the end, even with the students being gone.

Rebuilding will be a lot of starts and stops, but there were a few positives to take from this game.

Charleston Pony wrote:We continued challenging Lakhin who finished with 10 boards and 8 blocks and was the difference in the end when we forced drives down the lane into him. He was a factor in Nutall hurrying that short 10 footer as well. The big 7 footer is a good rim protector

I get that Phelps was out for a few games, and sometimes shots don't fall. But at some point, the coaches have to tell him to stop driving and forcing up shots in the paint

giacfsp wrote:

Charleston Pony wrote:We continued challenging Lakhin who finished with 10 boards and 8 blocks and was the difference in the end when we forced drives down the lane into him. He was a factor in Nutall hurrying that short 10 footer as well. The big 7 footer is a good rim protector

I get that Phelps was out for a few games, and sometimes shots don't fall. But at some point, the coaches have to tell him to stop driving and forcing up shots in the paint

What ever happened to penetrating and dishing back out to open shooters? It's great to have guys who can penetrate, but our guys are forcing far too many well defended shots. Odigie is another guy who has forgotten how effective the inside/out game can be. Once the ball goes into him, it doesn't come back out no matter how many guys have collapsed on him. We just might find some of our guys can hit perimeter shots at a higher percentage if they got more open looks. I've noticed some of our guys don't rotate into vacated spots anymore when guys do penetrate. I hope that's something they improve on as the season wears on.

Who are your shooters? Todorovic can shoot, but is inconsistent. Who else do you target on the wing?

Ball handling and shooting both need an upgrade.

I think SMU has some pretty good shooters. From 3: Todo, Nutall, Phelps, Smith, Wright, Koulibaly, Lanier. BUT, they are likely good shooters if the ball is moving, we are setting screens, into the post and out, drive and dish, etc. If we are talking about step back 3's, 3-4 dribbles and shoot, etc. - we have no good shooters. The first few minutes of the Cincy game is a time when we have no good shooters. There was no ball movement, whoever got it went to hoop, forced a dribble, etc. Amazing how we had good shooting when the ball moved against Tulsa. Tulsa is not very good, but if we move the ball and take good shots we will actually find out if we have good shooters.

This sounds like a coaching problem