SMU 53 - UCF 85 (1/9/23)
SMU Mustangs overwhelmed on the road and in the paint.
There was once a time when SMU had a team sprinkled with NBA and professional players and were the ones toying with opponents, throwing alley-oops every opportunity they had and were the class of the conference. Those opponents once embarrassed by SMU are now getting their revenge on the Mustangs.
SMU started the game game slow from the offensive side of the ball shooting roughly 25% to begin but so was UCF. Mustangs improved on that getting its percentage back to about 50% and visibly looking better on the floor. It didn’t take long for SMU’s Achilles’ heel to reveal itself when they started to turn the ball over. SMU’s other issue is the lack of size and rebounding. Without any true interior presence the Mustangs were getting killed on the glass and allowing UCF to rack up the 2nd chance points. It kept UCF in the game when SMU was playing solid at the time. With an extinct paint presence UCF took full advantage. You would think the Knights were practicing layup drills. That is how wide open they were for layups without any deterrent. The score at halftime was SMU 22 - UCF 32 and the Mustangs were not that far out of it. SMU also committed 9 turnovers going into the break and was losing the rebound battle.
Yes, this SMU team is young and inexperienced and its last two oppenents will be and are basically Big 12 teams - the best basketball conference in the country by far. When they faced Houston as 20 point underdogs I wasn’t expecting an outright road win. Against UCF as 9.5 point ‘dogs, after the Houston blowout I was expecting more of a fight though. SMU played with them and stayed in the game for the most part but there were too many offensive lulls. Scoring droughts that would last over two minutes multiple times during the game.
Zhuric Phelps was out Sunday so his offense was definitely missed. Zach Nutall went 1/8 from the field in a rare off night for the guard but he’s been the constant for the Mustang offense. Samuell Williamson was 4/5 with 8 points but was so passive. Again! He get’s open looks but passes out of them to smothered teammates instead of taking over finding his own shots like in the Tulsa game. The high point man was junior guard Ricardo Wright shooting 5/9 with 13 points in 23 minutes and the only Mustang to make more than one 3PT.
SMU is back at it on Wednesday in the Moody Coliseum hosting the Tulane Green Wave who are 3-1 in AAC play.
Three aspects Mustangs need to improve on Wednesday:
Rebounds
Turnovers
Free Throws
