SMC

Big game this week against SMC.



SMC lost to Pacific last night in triple overtime. Tough loss for them. They'll be hungry for redemption, so we'll need to be on point.



SMC is an extremely efficient team on offense. They are among the tops in the nation when it comes to offense efficiency. Few wasted possessions. They'll try to slow the game to a grind.



In the past, when we haven't had much of a half-court game, SMC would force us into a grind and our offense would go stale. This year, given our improved defense and ball movement, we ought to not fall into the same trap of seasons pass.



We can't let SMC get hot from three and we have to rebound the ball. No second chances for SMC. They will eat the shot clock looking for a good look, if they get a rebound, they'll eat some more off the clock.



We have better shooting than past years and more outside threats. We'll be able to spread the floor. I don't see SMC doubling up on Childs as much as other teams as they will look to negate our three point shooting.



Will be a battle and grind.



Blue-goggled me hopes our defense gets stops and we run them out of the gym.

Very nice. Thanks for the write up Gunk.

Gunk wrote:

Big game this week against SMC.



SMC lost to Pacific last night in triple overtime.

Well...actually it was in quadruple OT, but who's counting anyway :whistle:

Pacific-SMC.JPG

Interesting Box Score.

SMC lost 3 players by game's end, Pacific 2, but total fouls only 1 different. None of the Puketah officiating disparity.



Pacific had 2 starters that only played 6 minutes of the game. I haven't watched the game, so I don't know if McCray or Finstuen went out with injuries, but if they didn't, what kind of scheme is that? Combined, the two were 0-3. If they didn't get injured, wow, they sure got the pine quickly.



SMC had only 8 turnovers the whole game.



Pacific dominated the defensive boards.



SMC's shooting percentages sunk their boat--27 3's taken and only 8 hit in a 4-OT game.

BYU did luck out, based on results thus far. to only have to play Santa Clara and Pacific each once this season. Funny how that worked out.

Saw somewhere that BYU is holding teams three point shooting to 29%. That's pretty good perimeter defense.



If SMC wants to shoot threes, that seems to play into a defensive strength of ours.



If we can shoot threes at our average, we win.

I have a lot more confidence going into Moraga this season that I have the last few. We can win this game, but not playing like we did offensively against LMU, which seemed to be connected to the 1st half of the ORU game. Finals and holidays over guys. Let's get back on track to where you were.

Tough game without Yo, but cougars take it to overtime.



I think we can take SMC in Provo with Childs

That was a close game.

Rebounding was tough without Childs.



Toolson came up short on this game. He shoots his normal percentage and we win that game.

I am encouraged by how well the team played overall without Childs, but that was tough loss still. It has been a while since we won in Moraga.

This team does not give up or back down. Losing Yo hurt big time This is a fun team to watch and support.