My Thoughts on the Arkansas Game

[Treadway21]

Having not had the chance to listen to the game, it is interesting reading the game thread. For 23 of the 38 pages, we were getting blown out and most pfs are ready to slit our collective wrists. Then all of a sudden at page 23 people start to notice we are back in the game. I looked at the team stats and if you did not know how bad we started you would say it was a pretty even game. The difference was three point shooting and free throws.

Boy, wouldn't you like to have Benardi as an option this year.

With all the focus on Frazier, Ben Moore really didn't get the attention he obviously deserves. I knew he was good, but had no idea he was as good as he is. I can't wait to see what he is doing by the end of the year. Yanick looks to have had a good game - he must have been nervous or pressing the first couple of games. I really thought Kennedy looked good in the practice I saw last year. Hopefully he settles in. But how nice is it to have Moriera, Kennedy, Moore, and Cunningham.

While I am a big fan of Jalen, I am not sure this team misses him that much. Sure he would be fiery and play hard, but if you told me last year that he wouldn't be playing, I would have been worried. Now not so much.

It may turn out the losing Benardi will have more of an impact than losing Jones, shocking as it is to think about. Our strength is inside where Jalen did most of his work. Our weakness is outside where Bernardi kills it.

7 more 3s made by Arkansas and 8 more free throws made by Arkansas. 15 points right there.

SMU Ark
Points 78 89
FG Made-Att. 27-60 25-57
FG Percentage 45.0% 43.9%
3FG Made-Att. 4-10 11-22
3FG Percentage 40.0% 50.0%
FT Made-Att. 20-29 28-37
FT Percentage 69.0% 75.7%
Rebounds 15-38 12-36
Assists 10 17
Turnovers 18 13
Blocks 3 6
Steals 5 9

[LA_Mustang]

Unfortunately I didn't get to see the game, had to follow it on my phone. I appreciate reading everyone's thoughts on the game. I'm proud of the guys for battling back and making it interesting at the end. As someone else posted, this was an encouraging loss. IMO, the biggest positives are that we've gotten very little out of Kennedy and KF yet we're still playing well. I'm confident KF will emerge as a much needed sniper for this team. Not sure what is going on with Kennedy. I had high hope for him, and I'm sure he'll snap out of this funk. My biggest concern is still FT shooting, which I hope is being addressed in practice.

[Nacho]

i thought we would lose this game.
we did.
move on.

[hoopmanx]

people were overreacting, doom & glooming, around the loss at first, but now some seem to have taken on the 'moral victory' vibe. Got news, it was far from a moral victory. Hell, Doh took Ole Miss & OSU to multiple OTs a few years back, and probably should have won each. I know LB gets the benefit of the doubt based on the programs trajectory and him being LB, but enough of these types of losses. The key to this years OOC is beating one or two we previously would not have beat, and not losing to any cupcakes. In that regard, w/only 2 or 3 quality OOC opponents on the schedule, can't miss on quality opportunities.

Arkansas has some nice players, but they were very beatable and are a mid tier team in a crap league. Whereas its not a bad loss, it certainly isn't a moral victory. Its just an L and not a particularly good one

[CalallenStang]

The Virginia match-up is one to look forward to. Go into a hostile environment and a definite tourney team, see how the team responds there with a few more games to get acclimated with one another. Either way, outlook is certainly bright and I think everyone on here already knows how much love I got for Nic Moore. Loved his game through high school and still love it at the collegiate level.

Agree on the Virginia game, though I don't think it will be that hostile of an environment - we will face a much more hostile environment if we face Texas A&M in the next game. There just aren't many Virginia fans in Corpus Christi

UVA people are EVERYWHERE. It's terrifying

I grew up in Corpus and never once met a UVA person

[hoopmanx]

I grew up in Corpus and never once met a UVA person

UVA will probably travel better than we will, but it'll be neutral no matter what. It'll be an Aggie home game should we play them

[MV pony]

We lost AGAIN in another sport. What else is there to think about?

[EastStang]

We lost a road game to a better than average SEC team. We have a young team who are still learning to play together. UVa is an upper eschelon ACC team that will be a real test on a neutral court. I live in VA and the Wahoos don't even travel well here. They sell out at home against good teams, have trouble filling the place for games against nobodies.

[Nacho]

we haven't even settled on a starting 5 or backups or rotation yet.
i have a feeling ben moore will be a starter soon.
i'm not so sure about frazier as a starter yet. he looks like a work in progress to this reporter's untrained eye.