Transition: The Aggies turned the ball over 20 times last week in Las Cruces. Turnovers, and bad shots by NMSU was a big reason UTA got back into the game last week. If NMSU runs better offense and takes care of the ball tonight UTA won't get the kind of looks that hurt NMSU last week.
3-point defense: Arlington is shooting 43 percent from 3-point range this week. Karol Gruszecki is shooting 47 percent this week and is one of four players capable of knocking it down. One thing that helps the Aggies is that for the first time this week, center Sim Bhullar isn't facing a center with much of a jump shot in Jordan Reeves. UTA got a lot of transition 3s against the Aggies in Las Cruces last week. Look for Bandja Sy to guard Gruszecki and Renaldo Dixon to guard Kevin Butler.
Point guard play: This is probably the first time this week that the Aggies may need Watson's ability to handle the ball to help out the point guards against Arlington's press. KC Ross-Miller had a decent game on Friday with 12 points 5 assists and 3 steals, but Arlington's point guard Shaq White Miller will be a handful for Ross Miller and Terrel de Rouen tonight. White Miller is good at getting into the paint and creating. UTA uses a lot of ball screens for him so NMSU bigs will hedge out and not necessarily switch.
UTA feels like they should have swept the Aggies this season. Their press and ability to shoot the 3 will keep this close but NMSU will pull out a 68-62 victory.
1 comment:
Great win for the Aggies. The defense was excellent. This allowed them to overcome the offensive dry spell in the second half and below average free throw shoooting. This is a team that plays hard for 40 minutes and I'm glad they were rewarded for their hard work by winning the WAC championship. Who do you think they will draw in the tourney?
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