SMU vs Wright State

[Stallion]

we may be more athletic but they get every loose ball-not good

[Arkpony]

We survived!

[One Trick Pony]

Bringing home the baby trophy

[Rebel10]

Well we know SMU could do very well in the Horizon Conference.

[SMU Section F]

Great job, Jimmy!

[Charleston Pony]

Lucky to win that one; Whitt had a really good tourney

[PonySnob]

We survived!

Survive and advance! Oh wait............

[Stallion]

Well bless their hearts-dug themselves out of the grave with hot shooting-but style of play was poor-didn't get loose balls and played poor defense-credit to Wright St for playing good team ball-they probably deserved to win

[PonyLaw90]

Bringing home the baby trophy

All is good in the world tonight. Can we start talking about Jank’s Love for guitar?

[Rebel10]

NIT?

[mrydel]

No way as we are now

[Stallion]

Wright St 29 baskets on 21 assists
SMU 30 baskets on 9 assists

Hey at least we beat a fundamentally solid opponent

[Stallion]

I actually saw the slightest glimmer that Mike could be an asset with his 2 wing drives to the basket and a KEY tough offensive rebound down low in last minute that resulted in a 3 point SMU lead

Still hard to believe Mike ended with only 3 rebounds with Chargois sunbathing on the beach for the first half

[sadderbudweiser]

Bringing home the baby trophy

All is good in the world tonight. Can we start talking about Jank’s Love for guitar?

Timmy Hendrix?

[JasonB]

The first half was awful. A little better at the end of that half.

Not great ball movement still on offense. The defense is actually quite poor right now. Players don't know when to switch and when to stay, so a lot of time we double off the ball and leave the ball wide open. Or lose a back door cut.

Here are the positives (not saying things are good, these are just some positives to take out of this game):
- I loved the fight in the second half. They rallied as a team and got behind each other. That was a big difference, they played aggressive instead of scared in the second half and came back to win.
- Close game against a team shooting really well from outside - this is the exact game we lost against Southern Miss and Lipscomb. Still not good enough defensively to get stops, but we were aggressive enough offensively to stay with the run at the end and then found a way to win the game. So, this was a step forward/
- Whitt was aggressive with the mid-range game, which absolutely saved us in the first half. McMurray was aggressive and on his game. Ethan was aggressive in the second half after missing the entire first half. In the first half with the team struggling, I really like how Hunt wasn't afraid to try and be aggressive and pick up the slack. Those are good signs for the offense.
- Dixon and Mike are still non factors. Dixon is a set shooter and if we could run a cohesive offense would be more effective. If that comes around, he will have a bigger impact. Mike continues to struggle defensively, and on offense is very hesitant. He had a drive early in the game where he was easily beating his man, but instead of going hard to the basket and getting a layup or a foul, he stopped and tried a turnaround jumper. Mike needs to step it up. We got lucky in this game with Ethan missing the first half because Whitt and McMurray turned their games up. But we know that isn't going to be the case every time. Mike needs to be able to produce for this team to be decent when Foster returns.
- I think it really helped us that they played man more than zone. Until players get confidence and the offense is efficient, we need to generate quick offense. Playing slow tempo, we just don't have the teamwork, efficiency, or confidence to win a game. Playing against man for most of the game allowed us to challenge 1v1 and just be aggressive and try to make plays. A step forward, but I think we will hit a wall against zone defenses still.

All in all, at least it was a small step forward.