Everyone knows about our team, so I will breakdown a team on paper that should be our worst nightmare match-up.
First off let's start out with who we are playing. Baylor has a 9 man rotation that is limited because 2 of the 9 are injured and will not play in LJ Cryer and Jonathan Tchatchoua. Serendiptiously for us, while both players are the only dominant 3 point shooters %wise on the entire team with each shooting at a 46% clip from 3 each, LJ Cryer was a major 3 point threat that would absoutely light it up from 3 (tchatchoua rarely shot the 3). . This severely limits Baylors 3 point threat.
This leaves 7 players left in their rotation. Of those 7, Dale Bonner is a basically non-threat and last off the bench. His minutes have increased with Cryer going down and he did have 9 points versus Oklahoma in the Big12 tourney, but he shoots 17% from 3 and also averages 2.9 points per game. This player shouldn't be someone we have to worry about. If so, we are in for a long day.
Of the next 6, is Flo Thamba.
Flo Thamba is Baylors tallest player (in main rotation) a senior, and the rim protector. Oddly enough though, he only gets 1 block per game, regularly is outrebounded by his teammates, and is their most foul prone player. He is however their best offensive rebounder and will be looking to clean up their misses. With Tchatchoua going down, Thamba's minutes grew a lot and with that his numbers increased pretty much across the board with averaging closer to 13 points and 8 rebounds a game in the most recent games. He has also regularly been in foul trouble a lot of those games, though usually avoiding fouling out. Despite being their tallest player (in main rotation), he is only 6'10. He will need to be boxed out though because his scoring pretty much goes by his number of offensive rebounds. If he is boxed out, he is neutralized. He is bad from the FT line at at 59% and does not shoot 3s at all. He can also turn the ball over a good bit.
The 5th player here to worry about is the other forward in Freshman Jeremy Sochan. He is 6'9. He can stretch the floor and shoots about 30% from 3. He also does take 3s when they are there and isn't afraid to shoot. He is poor from the FT line at 57% and is generally an inefficient shooter from the field. He is their top healthy rebounder on the roster and top man off the bench. He gets offensive rebounds about as much as Thamba, but he tends to clean up more defensive rebounds. He can get into foul trouble at times. He can have a dud of a game or he can have a decent game. He has been scoring in double digits more recently as his minutes went up with the injury to Tchatchoua, but the duds still exist.
Okay the 4th player we have to worry about before getting into their big 3 is, Mathew Mayer. He is listed as a 6'9 senior guard. He was a roleplayer on their championship team last year and shot nearly 40% from 3 that year. This year he is only shooting around 30%. He does let loose on 3 often at about 4 per game, so he is someone we need to hope isn't going to get into a groove from outside. He is only a 69% FT shooter. This is your main boom or bust player. He averages 10 points a game but can go for 20+ or be a non-entity. Their third best rebounder, but mostly on the defensive end as he seems to be moreso around the perimeter a lot. Attempts as many 3s as 2s almost.
Now for the 3 big guys, we will start with Freshman Kendall Brown. Percentage-wise him and Flagler are the best 3p shooters left on the team. He is 38% from 3. However he only shoots about 1 per game. So he isn't the biggest threat from 3 still. He is 70% from the FT line. Of these 3 major minute players, he accomplishes the least with just under 10 points a game, only about 5 rebounds a game, and almost 2 turnovers a game. He, however, can pass the ball upwards to 2 assists a game as well, and he is nearly 60% from the field with a whopping 64% from inside the arc to bolster it. This means he is likely a guy who drives efficiently and can regularly blow by his defender. At 6'8 he can mop up offensive rebounds also. He averages nearly 2 per game. Oddly about him is that his numbers were much better at the beginning of the season than later on. Still needs to be looked out for though.
Okay Flagler and Akinjo.
Flagler, a 6'3 junior guard, is their best 3 point shooter left at 39% and he lets it fly. He averages 6 3s attempted per game. Him and Brown are the only ones who are above the average mark of 33% from 3 left on this team. He is also their 2nd best FT shooter left at 74%. He doesn't get to the line very often as he seems more like a perimeter type of guy. He can pass the ball. He shoots 50% from 2. He doesn't rebounds much or block anything, but he does hound the perimeter for the opposing team. Baylor has one of the best 3p% defenses in the country. Opponents shoot under 30% from 3 against them. This guy is why. He averages 13 points a game, and if he is on from 3 he can light it up to 5, 6, 7 3s. When he can't hit hit 3s versus quality opponents, they generally lose. However, he is relatively consistent scoring wise and his dudes are few and far between. This may be the match-up more preferable for love than Leaky due to his quickness, but shutting down Flagler is a major key to victory.
Last but not least is Akinjo. Akinjo a junior guard also averages 13.3 ppg same as Flagler. He is quick, he forces a lot of streams at 2pg, and he dishes the ball extremely well. He averages 6 assists a game. He turns the ball over about 3 times per game for nearly a 2:1 assist ratio. He also likely has the ball in his hands a lot. He is 83% from the FT line and seems to get there the most on this team. Thus he is fouled a lot. It is going to be extremely difficult for RJ Davis to stay in front of Akinjo. And Akinjo once he collapses the D can make the pass to the right person. This match-up could control the game. If Akinjo can lock down the UNC perimeter, force our guards into turnovers, and collapse our D, we could be in for a long day. He is only 30% from 3 and 39% from the field all together with his 44% from inside the arc not doing much to raise his numbers. This makes him an inefficient shooter that relies a lot on getting to the line, very much like Caleb Love. This is the one guy that is scary because we don't have much of a way to contain his quickness. The possibility is putting Love on Akinjo and Leaky on Flagler, but where do you put RJ Davis at? And, it probably won't matter much once they force switches.
The keys to this game are going to be on the perimeter. On the inside, we should enjoy an advantage. However, their guards are going to hound the perimeter and make entry passes hard. They are quick and hard to contain their drives. In theory, Baylor doesn't really light it up and if UNC can hit 3s, they should win. But, Baylor is going to make it very hard on them. We may rely greatly on Manek stretching them and Love extending the range very deep. We will have a lot of difficulty driving into this defense and collapsing it. Thus, we shouldn't have a lot of uncontested stuff and may make it look like we are just dribbling around the perimeter a lot. We need to get key players into foul trouble, while avoiding fouls on our own end. This team is fast and athletic. They don't shoot 3s well, they don't shoot FTs well, but they hound you defensively and get to the basket.
First off let's start out with who we are playing. Baylor has a 9 man rotation that is limited because 2 of the 9 are injured and will not play in LJ Cryer and Jonathan Tchatchoua. Serendiptiously for us, while both players are the only dominant 3 point shooters %wise on the entire team with each shooting at a 46% clip from 3 each, LJ Cryer was a major 3 point threat that would absoutely light it up from 3 (tchatchoua rarely shot the 3). . This severely limits Baylors 3 point threat.
This leaves 7 players left in their rotation. Of those 7, Dale Bonner is a basically non-threat and last off the bench. His minutes have increased with Cryer going down and he did have 9 points versus Oklahoma in the Big12 tourney, but he shoots 17% from 3 and also averages 2.9 points per game. This player shouldn't be someone we have to worry about. If so, we are in for a long day.
Of the next 6, is Flo Thamba.
Flo Thamba is Baylors tallest player (in main rotation) a senior, and the rim protector. Oddly enough though, he only gets 1 block per game, regularly is outrebounded by his teammates, and is their most foul prone player. He is however their best offensive rebounder and will be looking to clean up their misses. With Tchatchoua going down, Thamba's minutes grew a lot and with that his numbers increased pretty much across the board with averaging closer to 13 points and 8 rebounds a game in the most recent games. He has also regularly been in foul trouble a lot of those games, though usually avoiding fouling out. Despite being their tallest player (in main rotation), he is only 6'10. He will need to be boxed out though because his scoring pretty much goes by his number of offensive rebounds. If he is boxed out, he is neutralized. He is bad from the FT line at at 59% and does not shoot 3s at all. He can also turn the ball over a good bit.
The 5th player here to worry about is the other forward in Freshman Jeremy Sochan. He is 6'9. He can stretch the floor and shoots about 30% from 3. He also does take 3s when they are there and isn't afraid to shoot. He is poor from the FT line at 57% and is generally an inefficient shooter from the field. He is their top healthy rebounder on the roster and top man off the bench. He gets offensive rebounds about as much as Thamba, but he tends to clean up more defensive rebounds. He can get into foul trouble at times. He can have a dud of a game or he can have a decent game. He has been scoring in double digits more recently as his minutes went up with the injury to Tchatchoua, but the duds still exist.
Okay the 4th player we have to worry about before getting into their big 3 is, Mathew Mayer. He is listed as a 6'9 senior guard. He was a roleplayer on their championship team last year and shot nearly 40% from 3 that year. This year he is only shooting around 30%. He does let loose on 3 often at about 4 per game, so he is someone we need to hope isn't going to get into a groove from outside. He is only a 69% FT shooter. This is your main boom or bust player. He averages 10 points a game but can go for 20+ or be a non-entity. Their third best rebounder, but mostly on the defensive end as he seems to be moreso around the perimeter a lot. Attempts as many 3s as 2s almost.
Now for the 3 big guys, we will start with Freshman Kendall Brown. Percentage-wise him and Flagler are the best 3p shooters left on the team. He is 38% from 3. However he only shoots about 1 per game. So he isn't the biggest threat from 3 still. He is 70% from the FT line. Of these 3 major minute players, he accomplishes the least with just under 10 points a game, only about 5 rebounds a game, and almost 2 turnovers a game. He, however, can pass the ball upwards to 2 assists a game as well, and he is nearly 60% from the field with a whopping 64% from inside the arc to bolster it. This means he is likely a guy who drives efficiently and can regularly blow by his defender. At 6'8 he can mop up offensive rebounds also. He averages nearly 2 per game. Oddly about him is that his numbers were much better at the beginning of the season than later on. Still needs to be looked out for though.
Okay Flagler and Akinjo.
Flagler, a 6'3 junior guard, is their best 3 point shooter left at 39% and he lets it fly. He averages 6 3s attempted per game. Him and Brown are the only ones who are above the average mark of 33% from 3 left on this team. He is also their 2nd best FT shooter left at 74%. He doesn't get to the line very often as he seems more like a perimeter type of guy. He can pass the ball. He shoots 50% from 2. He doesn't rebounds much or block anything, but he does hound the perimeter for the opposing team. Baylor has one of the best 3p% defenses in the country. Opponents shoot under 30% from 3 against them. This guy is why. He averages 13 points a game, and if he is on from 3 he can light it up to 5, 6, 7 3s. When he can't hit hit 3s versus quality opponents, they generally lose. However, he is relatively consistent scoring wise and his dudes are few and far between. This may be the match-up more preferable for love than Leaky due to his quickness, but shutting down Flagler is a major key to victory.
Last but not least is Akinjo. Akinjo a junior guard also averages 13.3 ppg same as Flagler. He is quick, he forces a lot of streams at 2pg, and he dishes the ball extremely well. He averages 6 assists a game. He turns the ball over about 3 times per game for nearly a 2:1 assist ratio. He also likely has the ball in his hands a lot. He is 83% from the FT line and seems to get there the most on this team. Thus he is fouled a lot. It is going to be extremely difficult for RJ Davis to stay in front of Akinjo. And Akinjo once he collapses the D can make the pass to the right person. This match-up could control the game. If Akinjo can lock down the UNC perimeter, force our guards into turnovers, and collapse our D, we could be in for a long day. He is only 30% from 3 and 39% from the field all together with his 44% from inside the arc not doing much to raise his numbers. This makes him an inefficient shooter that relies a lot on getting to the line, very much like Caleb Love. This is the one guy that is scary because we don't have much of a way to contain his quickness. The possibility is putting Love on Akinjo and Leaky on Flagler, but where do you put RJ Davis at? And, it probably won't matter much once they force switches.
The keys to this game are going to be on the perimeter. On the inside, we should enjoy an advantage. However, their guards are going to hound the perimeter and make entry passes hard. They are quick and hard to contain their drives. In theory, Baylor doesn't really light it up and if UNC can hit 3s, they should win. But, Baylor is going to make it very hard on them. We may rely greatly on Manek stretching them and Love extending the range very deep. We will have a lot of difficulty driving into this defense and collapsing it. Thus, we shouldn't have a lot of uncontested stuff and may make it look like we are just dribbling around the perimeter a lot. We need to get key players into foul trouble, while avoiding fouls on our own end. This team is fast and athletic. They don't shoot 3s well, they don't shoot FTs well, but they hound you defensively and get to the basket.
