SMU (1/25/24)

[CMJ]

Tied in the loss column against our neighborhood foe, only half a game back from the conference lead.  Huge, huge game for both schools.

[UNT 90 Grad]

#ponydown

Edited January 21 by UNT 90 Grad

[MeanGreen22]

[Matt from A700]

Another several-day break. Desperately need Rubin or Buggs to be good to go by then.

[TheColonyEagle]

Negative Nelly coming in…..here’s my concern with this matchup….

It comes down to athletes and defense. SMU’s defense statistically is just as good as ours. But I think our defense (which is elite) is a system defense. Meaning our offensive pace has a lot to do with our defensive performance. (That’s not a bad thing. It won us 30+ games last year and has turned this program around. So don’t think I’m saying it’s bad. It’s great and I’m 100% on board. It’s a great system) however, I don’t know how SMUs defense is so good. But I do know they scored 103 points last game. They’ve scored 80, 90 multiple times. They held the most athletic team in the conference, Memphis to 62 points. Yes they only scored 59 against Memphis.  But we just got held to 44 by Charlotte.  We couldn’t score 103 points if we wanted to….

So does SMU out athlete their opponents to hold them down on defense? Do they have a system? I just don’t know if I like the matchup….I’m going to assume we’ll be home underdogs. I hope the pit is rocking Thursday. Going to need it packed. I think we are going to have to play REALLY well to win this game. Much better than we have the past few games. 

[BigWillie]

23 minutes ago, TheColonyEagle said:

Negative Nelly coming in…..here’s my concern with this matchup….

It comes down to athletes and defense. SMU’s defense statistically is just as good as ours. But I think our defense (which is elite) is a system defense. Meaning our offensive pace has a lot to do with our defensive performance. (That’s not a bad thing. It won us 30+ games last year and has turned this program around. So don’t think I’m saying it’s bad. It’s great and I’m 100% on board. It’s a great system) however, I don’t know how SMUs defense is so good. But I do know they scored 103 points last game. They’ve scored 80, 90 multiple times. They held the most athletic team in the conference, Memphis to 62 points. Yes they only scored 59 against Memphis.  But we just got held to 44 by Charlotte.  We couldn’t score 103 points if we wanted to….

So does SMU out athlete their opponents to hold them down on defense? Do they have a system? I just don’t know if I like the matchup….I’m going to assume we’ll be home underdogs. I hope the pit is rocking Thursday. Going to need it packed. I think we are going to have to play REALLY well to win this game. Much better than we have the past few games. 

Counter point. The 44 points we scored last night had more to do with us missing wide open shots. I think you could see this coming when we didnt shoot that well in the ECU game. To me, it just looked like we were gassed and literally noone shot well. I will give Charlotte some credit for their defense, but I watched every shot and most of them were wide open or blown layups. 

As far as being able to score 100 to beat them, that's the point of this defense, you don't have to. Look what we did to Tulane who was averaging 80+. 

It really comes down to the basic part of basketball. Making shots. As many have already said, we need more offense and if we want any chance of beating SMUt, we need at least Rubin back.

Edited January 21 by BigWillie

[MeanGreen22]

26 minutes ago, TheColonyEagle said:

We couldn’t score 103 points if we wanted to….

While I agree we probably don’t have the offense to ever score 100, I think we have the players to get out and run on defensive stops. No reason a lineup of Edwards, CJ, Dello, Scott, Allen shouldn’t be pushing more for easy buckets in transition. That’s the biggest rub for us on offense. Everything is a GRIND and sometimes it’s just not necessary. 

[CMJ]

We can certainly defeat SMU, but we're gonna have to bring our A game to beat them.  The guys will need an assist from the Super Pit too, so hopefully we get a huge crowd.

[GMG_Dallas]

Looking at stats alone, this may come down to how we defend the paint. They shoot 45.7% from the field but only 68.9% from the free throw line on 322 free throw attempts. For comparison, we're shooting 75.3% from the line on 279 total attempts. They also have 245 total offensive rebounds over 18 games which comes out to 13.6 offensive boards per game. For comparison, we have 208 over 17 games for 12.2 per game. On paper, they look like a very good rebounding team.

Other big statistical differences: they've blocked about twice as many shots as us on the season (96 to 50), have about 120 more assists (291 to 176), 41 more steals (156 to 115) and only 16 more turnovers.

Threes. They've taken 390 total 3s and hit 34.6%. Even with the past 2 horrendous games, we're averaging 35.5% from 3 on 375 total attempts. Back to the first paragraph, keep them out of the paint and off the offensive glass. Make them shoot 3s. If they get to the hoop, make them earn it at the line. They play a very deep rotation with 10 guys playing 17 to 18 games and averaging 9.3 minutes per game or more. If we get Buggs and Jones back, we're going to need to use a deep 8-9 man rotation to avoid individual foul trouble. Going to be a battle.

[TheColonyEagle]

1 hour ago, TheColonyEagle said:

Negative Nelly coming in…..here’s my concern with this matchup….

It comes down to athletes and defense. SMU’s defense statistically is just as good as ours. But I think our defense (which is elite) is a system defense. Meaning our offensive pace has a lot to do with our defensive performance. (That’s not a bad thing. It won us 30+ games last year and has turned this program around. So don’t think I’m saying it’s bad. It’s great and I’m 100% on board. It’s a great system) however, I don’t know how SMUs defense is so good. But I do know they scored 103 points last game. They’ve scored 80, 90 multiple times. They held the most athletic team in the conference, Memphis to 62 points. Yes they only scored 59 against Memphis.  But we just got held to 44 by Charlotte.  We couldn’t score 103 points if we wanted to….

So does SMU out athlete their opponents to hold them down on defense? Do they have a system? I just don’t know if I like the matchup….I’m going to assume we’ll be home underdogs. I hope the pit is rocking Thursday. Going to need it packed. I think we are going to have to play REALLY well to win this game. Much better than we have the past few games. 

Don’t misunderstand anything about my post…..we get to play the game at the Super Pit where we are VERY hard to beat. Fill that place up and it’s even harder. On Paper, SMU should win. But the game isn’t played on paper. It’s going to be played at the pit. This is going to be fun….we have to be locked in and if we are we will win 

Edited January 21 by TheColonyEagle

[Big Z]

3 hours ago, CMJ said:

We can certainly defeat SMU, but we're gonna have to bring our A game to beat them.  The guys will need an assist from the Super Pit too, so hopefully we get a huge crowd.

Will Stone bring his A game ?

[NT80]

8 minutes ago, Big Z said:

Will Stone bring his A game ?

Stone is a defensive specialist and a 6th or 7th man.  When he is starting and jacking up 3-pt attempts it says we are really hurting as a team.  I don't understand why Cotton or Moore, or other bench guys don't get some playing time now instead?

[Big Z]

20 minutes ago, NT80 said:

Stone is a defensive specialist and a 6th or 7th man.  When he is starting and jacking up 3-pt attempts it says we are really hurting as a team.  I don't understand why Cotton or Moore, or other bench guys don't get some playing time now instead?

Defensive specialist? Nice way of saying he’s ok 

[Jdawg48]

Last I heard was that Rubin and Buggs were both practicing. Dont know to what extent though. I say we get at least one back for this game.

Gosh I really hope all of Denton shows up...or at least half the university.

[Shark84]

18 hours ago, NT80 said:

Stone is a defensive specialist and a 6th or 7th man.  When he is starting and jacking up 3-pt attempts it says we are really hurting as a team.  I don't understand why Cotton or Moore, or other bench guys don't get some playing time now instead?

That has been the question for the past couple of years. Grant and now Hodge don't give guys off the bench a chance in games. I wish we knew the reason why. Maybe they don't perform well in practice but if that is the case, replace them in the summer. Maybe they are dealing with injuries that we don't know about. I have been told it is a trust thing. Some guys are not practice players but play well in games. I think Cotton might be one of those, but we may never know. I like Stone but not starting and playing 20 or more minutes. He could be a great 8-9 minute guy to come in and inject some energy defensively. He isn't a scoring threat and that hurts us when we aren't getting steady production from our post players. We end up playing 3 on 5 offensively. That puts a ton of pressure on Edwards, Scott and Noland to do all of the scoring. Getting Buggs and Jones back will help lower everyone's minutes and at least give us other scoring options. It's a long season. This conference has shown that no team is unbeatable. We just need to get healthy and allow players to get used to their roles. Right now we have guys playing more than they should be and trying to fill roles that they aren't able to handle. Pack the Pit Thursday and let's beat Smut! GMG!

[Shark84]

Anyone know if there are any pregame activities planned for Thursday? I know it is an early start so that may not allow for anything big. 

[Cooke County Kid]

I am pumped, first big game at home of the season against our hated foe! In 1977 I sat on the steps at the top of the Super Pit and witnessed one hell of a basketball game.  I am ready for a repeat!  I will be there with a bunch of buddies, some who were there in ‘77 but this time in a seat!

[Big Z]

9 minutes ago, Shark84 said:

Anyone know if there are any pregame activities planned for Thursday? I know it is an early start so that may not allow for anything big. 

I heard they were going set out some tables out and provide chips in a bowl. 

[UNTLifer]

26 minutes ago, Big Z said:

I heard they were going set out some tables out and provide chips in a bowl. 

No salsa?  Probably a health concern.

 

[Big Z]

54 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

No salsa?  Probably a health concern.

 

Bring your own dip

[Hunter Green]

8 hours ago, Big Z said:

Bring your own dip

No need. smut will be there.

[MeanGreen22]

I’ve always loved seeing student athletes supporting other student athletes. Oscar was at a lot of sporting events and I wish more would join in on the fun. 

[drex]

Denton Chamber of Commerce mixer before the game..but, of course, they will leave after the mixer.

[NorthTexasWeLove]

48 minutes ago, drex said:

Denton Chamber of Commerce mixer before the game..but, of course, they will leave after the mixer.

[Shark84]

For those of you who are season ticket holders, get ready to have Smut fans buying up tickets next to you. It is beneath them to sit in general admission seats. I'm sure the ushers won't be checking tickets and people will sit wherever they want to.  It will also be interesting to see if we have more than two gates to enter. Expect long lines to get in and at the concession stands.