Thursday, February 27, 2014

Utah Valley: Three keys and a prediction

I don't see the Aggies losing tonight. But I wouldn't be surprised to see them lose at Bakersfield on Saturday.

NMSU should come ready to play tonight with first place and a likely WAC championship and No. 1 seed on the line. The Aggies destroyed Utah Valley in Las Cruces. Tonight's game should be a bit closer than the 72-49 margin in the first game, but NMSU wins 70-57

Tempo: Utah Valley basically has six players. NMSU doesn't have to pressure the ball or force the fastbreak, but the Aggies typically try to get something easy first. Daniel Mullings had 21 points in the first game and DK Eldridge had 13 points. I think the Aggies wings can have another big game tonight.

3-point defense: This is the only way Utah Valley wins. Point guard Holton Hunsaker made three triples, and big man Ben Aird made two. UVU's other guard, Keawe Enos, had an off night but he's shooting 48 percent from 3 on the the season. NMSU does a good job of switching most screens and UVU isn't going to push the ball and get transition 3s I don't think, but they still made 7 in the first game.

Rebound: One way to get the fast break going is off the rebound. NMSU outrebounded Utah Valley 31-17 in the first game and that was Sim Bhullar's second game back. Aggies should dominate the glass again.

2 comments:

Crazy Canuck said...

Aggies outcoached again!!!!!
Let march madness begin.

Anonymous said...

So who forgot to tell the rest of the WAC what a beast the Aggie team was. Now let's see how many players are suspended for the melee after the game. And look at all the bad press they will get for this and they deserve every bit of it.