UConn and SMU square off in an American Athletic Conference battle as the Huskies continue to make their way through the state of Texas. UConn exposed a bit against a young Houston team back on Tuesday, and will look to rebound here.
Kevin Ollie’s group has some serious playmaking at the guard position in Shabazz Napier and Ryan Boatright. The two have carried this offense at times during the season. But their depth is a serious concern right now. They had only six bodies play double digit minutes on Tuesday night, and fellow guard Omar Calhoun played only five minutes and picked up two fouls, a testimony that he is still dealing with multiple offseason hip surgeries.
SMU is a fascinating team for a variety of reasons. Nic Moore is an excellent point guard and their head coach is the legendary Larry Brown. Markus Kennedy, a Villanova transfer, along with Yanick Moreira, Ben Moore and Cannen Cunningham, provide them a ton of larger bodies to bang in this game.
UConn started the year off very well but has come back down to earth considerably and it should continue today. SMU was impressive for a large portion of their Cincinnati loss, but they have what it takes. Moore forces UConn’s guards to have to work more so on the defensive end than they would like, and the fact that their guard rotation could be downsized makes that even more aggravating.
SMU is number one nationally in two point field goal percentage defense. UConn has been quite reliant on the three point shot to keep them in games, but that could catch up to them now.
SMU also shoots the three ball very effectively on offense and should hold a considerable rebounding advantage in this game.
You van never put too much stock into rebounding metrics, but its scary to think how this game could unfold should UConn struggle from deep. SMU has the ability to control tempo here and brings a good defense into this game. They are looking to establish themselves in this new conference with a good showing, and I think their home crowd will support them in doing so.
Keep an eye on Calhoun here. Should he be healthy, that makes this a riskier play. But I’m not sure that he is right now, and that is not good news for the UConn guard rotation even if they’ve had four days off.
SMU -2
