SMU vs Utah State

[mustangxc]

What a great win! We got very lucky that we had a hot night and Utah State was cold, as we handily lost the rebounding margin. However, the one great thing we did that made a huge difference and hopefully becomes a staple for this team is we dominated the turnover margin. We only gave up the ball 5 times compared to 13 for our opponent. That leads to fast break easy buckets and will win you games. I hope we can beat Hawaii and at least have a trophy to remember this season for.

[JasonB]

I like Hylton as well, but Odigie is looking better. The one thing that is surprising is his FT shooting, he has really been knocking those down, even though he shoots about 30% on point blank shots. He did nail a couple of mid range jumpers as well. Also, you knew it was going to be a good night for SMU when he swished an early 3 pointer!

I am good with an even split of minutes between them both. Odigie has the bigger body and is a great rebounder and his shot seems to be coming around.

Great effort!

Hawaii beat Washington State last night, so we play them Sunday night for the title. So it will be a larger and hostile home crowd. Hopefully attendance will be down a bit since it is Christmas.

Let's win this thing!

Odigie gets played on the defensive end. He gives up a couple really easy baskets every game, and the other center just waits for him to help and then eats up offensive rebounds.

[Charleston Pony]

Ambrose-Hylton getting more minutes has been huge for this team's low post play

[Charleston Pony]

He has played just a few minutes, and always in mop up duty. He is very energetic and positive on the bench cheering for everyone, so I don't think it is the dog house, and if it were grades, he wouldn't be suited up. You have to think he is just not healthy enough yet to log any significant minutes.

I do think they are probably being careful about his injury (like Cam Wheaton in football) because he dealt with his foot injury in H.S. before having a surgery shortened season last year at Iowa State. He hasn't played much ball in a couple of years now but the good news is he has 4 years of eligibility and you have to think he's going to be a factor for this team at some point, hopefully before this season ends

[ponyswim]

I very much like Jalen Smith's new role. As Jason said it frees up Phelps and Nutall from some of the ball handling, but now Jalen is starting to "see" the court a lot better. He had some really good passes - 3 assists. Hopefully he continues to grow into that role and can both distribute to others and start to score 6-8 points a game. Combine that with his defense and he can be a key contributor.

[Terry Webster]

If I read correctly, Utah State was 14 in the NET rankings prior to the game. Beat Hawaia.