GAME THREAD: MBB vs Memphis

[Charleston Pony]

Today was a good day to be a Mustang fan

That hasn't often been the case the last 30+ years, but it was definitely the case today. Huge win!

This team has given us some highs and lows this season but they have been fun to follow. Just glad Jank hired Coop who helped orchestrate the Weathers twins for Chargois/Jolly swap. As good as those latter two were for us at times, the Weathers brothers have been a definite upgrade!

[Charleston Pony]

As hard as both teams played and as great the defense was at times, it's amazing to see how few fouls were called and how few FTs were attempted in this game. Our guys were only 5-10 which was by far their worst effort this season. Memphis was only 1-5. Really unusual game.

[Charleston Pony]

Just listened to the presser and did not realize Memphis came in trash talking and "eff SMU" was being thrown around. Agunanne disclosed that and apparently the whole team adopted a "not in our house" attitude. Thanks, Memphis for giving our guys a little extra motivation today. I think our team might have discovered another "enforcer" for the home stretch

https://smumustangs.com/watch/?Archive= ... pe=Archive

[mustangxc]

That is the Memphis pre-game routine. I am almost certain they said F Houston prior to their game in Houston last Saturday.

[Charleston Pony]

That is the Memphis pre-game routine. I am almost certain they said F Houston prior to their game in Houston last Saturday.

I'm sure they are making Larry Brown proud

[JasonB]

Thoughts:
- SMU is the epitome of modern analytics. Threes and bunnies. When SMU hits from three, they are nearly unbeatable. Long teams on the road have been a real challenge, because we struggle from three on the road and they can defend the basket. We have one more game this year to challenge that trend, at Houston.
- Clearly we will get into the tournament if we finish 3-1. 2-2 losing at home to Cincy puts us closer to the bubble, and maybe on the way out. The loss at Temple will get written off because KD didn't play.
- That said, if we do go 2-2 and end up on the bubble, or if we lose first round of the tourney... I think our fate would depend on what the makeup of the selection committee is. If they are old school and believe inside-outside is the way to go, we are screwed. If they look at modern analytics, we look fantastic.
- I wrote Frank off as Jasey 2.0. My bad. That dude is way more athletic in person than I expected. He had more dunks today than Jasey had in 2 years.
- Look at Houston's schedule. Very difficult stretch run, they are running out of gas and coming off a 2 OT game against WSU. I'll put 50-50 odds that they finish 3-2, we finish 3-1, and everyone starts freaking out that the WSU game wasn't made up because it would cost us a share of 1st place.
- Play KD as the off guard the rest of the year, please. That was awesome to watch when he just needs to worry about scoring the ball.
- Memphis in the half court was interesting. Straight man, no help. Forced us to go isolation and we were just... better.
- The ONLY reason the first half was close was because of all the deadballs. Deadball turnovers by Memphis, missed shots that went out of bounds, offensive fouls. That allowed Memphis to put their press in, which was the only effective mechanism for them in terms of both forcing SMU to miss and creating offensive opportunities for Memphis. In a weird way, Memphis turning the ball over on the offensive end and committing offensive fouls actually kept them in the game. At the end of the first half, the ball stayed in bounds, they couldn't set up the press, we went on a run, and the same was true in the second half until the very end of the game.

[DC-Pony]

[quote="JasonB"]Thoughts:
- Play KD as the off guard the rest of the year, please. That was awesome to watch when he just needs to worry about scoring the ball.


Agree. Really good move by Jank. Opponent then tries to stop ball and KD is fairly free. Fly up to defend KD when pass goes his way and he’s either already on his way by you or he’s looking for the cutter.

[stlpony]

Gotta give Jank props for today’s win.

[fan]

KD's look and response on the Franklin question is incredibly meme worthy!

Someone on our media staff needs to sort that out.

[Charleston Pony]

Deadball turnovers by Memphis, missed shots that went out of bounds, offensive fouls allowed Memphis to put their press in, which was the only effective mechanism for them in terms of both forcing SMU to miss and creating offensive opportunities for Memphis.

Memphis' length and athleticism was a challenge for our guys and their press was effective...until Jank settled the guys and started attacking that press for scoring opportunities. Once our guys started turning great defense into transition buckets in the 2nd half, it was game, set, match!