SMU vs Utah State

[Charleston Pony]

Williamson now has 11 points. Four guys in double figures. Nutall next?

[Charleston Pony]

Shot selection going to be important down the stretch. Phelps can't be forcing shots like that last attempt before Lanier called time out. We need to keep spacing and moving the ball to get good looks. A couple of 2nd chance buckets might be nice to give Utah State a taste of their own medicine

[Charleston Pony]

Phelps can make you crazy as he forces up shots but then makes amazing plays to redeem himself

[tristatecoog]

Up five with 1:11 to go. Aggie ball. Everyone making FTs.

[tristatecoog]

Nutall with three! Williamson slam nails it. Up five with 7.5 to go. Need good inbound.

[Peruna88]

Clutch 3 by Zach!

[ponyboy]

Team is coming together.

[Terry Webster]

Huge win against a pretty quality opponent. Really liked what I saw.

[SRQPony]

This is not the same team from the previous 10 games. Impressive defense and intensity. I like this team!

[Hop Sing]

Nice win, and there is hope for this season after all!

On to the championship game!

[shadowman]

Fun game to watch. SMU looked like a well coached team with a high basketball IQ.

Of all the stats, the one I liked the most is that SMU only took 12 three pointers. They did not settle for jumpshots. SMU had better and quicker athletes and played to their strength. The vast majority of the points were in the paint.

15-17 from the FT line was also key. Everyone looks confident and collected at the charity stripe. We did get killed on the boards, but Utah State launched a bunch of bricks from 3 point range that took long and awkward bounces off the rim, so maybe not as bad as the stat line looked.

Utah State is a team that lives and dies from the three point line and they were off tonight. Of course, SMU had a lot to do with that by challenging the shots with our bigger and more athletic guards.

Looking forward to the championship on Christmas night. While there are no marquee teams in the tournament, still some solid competition and winning an 8 team tournament over 4 days is straight up legit.

Let's put up one more solid effort and hoist a trophy! Now that would be a Merry Christmas.

[Screck]

Still would like to know what is going with X. Foster. Is he hurt? In the dog house? Grades? Anyone?????

[shadowman]

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.

[JasonB]

Great game against another quality opponent. Again, the steps forward are sustainable.

- 0 was really strong defensively again today. We are a better team with Koulibaly or Smith bringing the ball up the court and then finding Nutall or Phelps to make play. Entire offense moves around better.
- Nutall is more aggressive driving to the hoop than at any other time in his SMU career and that is great to see.
- Hylton brings much needed athleticism in the middle, would still like to see him get more minutes than Odigie.

[shadowman]

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!