Some results of upcoming opponents

[Biggus Piggus]

Southern Illinois lost to Wright State 85-81.

SIU shot very well from all distances, played great interior defense, but their rebounding and 3-point defense were horrific. And they fouled like crazy.

UT Arlington defeated Texas Southern 89-82. The Mavericks played matador defense in the paint, but so did their opponent. UT Arlington shot 71% from 2-pt range vs. 63% for Texas Southern.

The Mavericks play road games every other day this week. They might be pretty tired come Friday.

Minnesota beat Louisiana-Lafayette 86-74. The Gophers led by 22 at half. They shot well, but they gave up 19 turnovers and 20 offensive rebounds. Their depth is questionable.

Stephen F. Austin lost at Kentucky 87-64, which really isn't that bad. Kentucky was in the bonus less than three minutes into the game, which is ridiculous. SFA gushed turnovers, but their perimeter D, offensive rebounding and inside shooting were strong.

Houston beat Morgan State 93-52. Morgan State is terrible. It will be a while before we know anything about the Cougars, because their first four opponents are really bad.

North Florida lost at Auburn 83-66. Their turnover margin was extremely poor, as was their perimeter defense. Rebounded well, good interior D. Bad shooting.

Texas struggled to get by Incarnate Word, 78-73. They trailed by 1 inside the last two minutes. Two of their best guards sat out the game on suspensions.

The Longhorns' game looks pretty good except for almost no offensive boards and a frightful 17% night from 3-pt range. Plus the Horns did not force many turnovers, which isn't exactly Shaka Smart's style. Texas will look better when it gets its guards back.

North Dakota State beat Arkansas State 76-66 despite shooting 9% from 3-pt range. NDSU outscored the Red Wolves (Injuns) 29-11 at the FT line, and that was pretty much the game. The foul discrepancy was 35-18. Someone didn't get the memo.

Oklahoma State beat Campbell 102-65. The two guards Evans and Forte combined for 58 points. The Cowboys had a great turnover margin and rebounded very well. They also fouled like crazy, didn't play much perimeter defense, and shot poorly from 3-pt range.

[zebra]

Thanks BP, great research!

[Swinesong1]

IPFW bounced back bigly today.  Never heard of their opponent tho.

[HardingHog]

IPFW bounced back bigly today.  Never heard of their opponent tho.

That's because Kenyon is a D3 school

[ShadowHawg]

Thanks for the research

[Razorod]

Very good stuff.

[navyhog24]

This should be an ongoing thread along with how past opponents have done to help keep up with the RPI and SOS when getting towards the postseason. Thanks for the great stuff BP

[Biggus Piggus]

Tyler Smithpeters, SIU's first player off the bench + top 3-point shooter from last season, will miss tonight's game with a knee injury.

The Salukis still made nine threes without him (but lost to Wright State 85-81).

Senior guard Mike Rodriguez (5-10) scored 29 points in the loss. He had been slowed recently by an injury and wasn't expected to start the first game.

Wright State has a first-year coach, Scott Nagy, who came in after 21 seasons at South Dakota State where he won 410 games. Wright State was picked to be in the middle of the pack in the Horizon League

They were 22-13 last season, 13-5 in the Horizon. That league has a weird conference tournament setup. Wright State tied for second in the league but ended up playing four games in the league tourney, lost to Green Bay in the final.

WSU's senior power forward Steven Davis ruined SIU, hitting 7-9 inside and 3-4 treys.

The Salukis are set up to deal with anyone who drives to the basket, but their rebounding and perimeter defense were very bad. They also outfouled Wright State 32-20.

Tonight might be a real whistle-fest.

[navyhog24]

Is CJ Jones playing tonight?

[FineAsSwine]

Is CJ Jones playing tonight?

Not likely.

[Biggus Piggus]

Two upcoming opponents (part of this early-season round-robin on the schedule) played last night, and Minnesota beat UT Arlington 84-67.

Arlington led 41-35 at half, but the Golden Gophers outscored them 49-26 in the second half. Huge outburst, concentrated inside the arc.

For a 10-minute span, Minnesota went on a 28-3 run. That's yuge. The Gophers emphasized contesting threes and rebounding, made the Mavericks miss 12 straight shots, after they had made nine treys in the first half.

In the end, though, the differences were fouling (UTA 29, Minn 19) and free throw scoring (Minn won that 30-13).

Arlington's main big man, Jorge Bilbao, fouled out in 17 minutes. Made a major difference in the game. Arlington's usually a strong rebounding team, but they got outboarded with Bilbao sitting so much.

Arlington also brought star power forward Kevin Hervey off the bench instead of starting him. Hervey played 23 minutes and had 8 points, 6 rebounds.

Hervey started all the games he played last season (was injured and missed the second half of the season). He was Sun Belt preseason POY but came off the bench in the Mavs' first two games. Maybe they are protecting him because of the knee.

So far, UT Arlington has not rebounded well, and you know they will focus on that Friday night against the Razorbacks. The Mavs are a strong inside scoring team and have been good at perimeter defense.

They average more than 26 fouls per game. Arkansas's been outfouling opponents too. I don't believe the Hogs will get as much charity as Minnesota did.

[Marshfieldhog]

Not likely.

Yes, he will play. I think he will score around 10-12 points.

[The_Iceman]

Eric Curry for Minnesota had 12 pts and 7 rebs in 27 minutes. 4 star freshman PF who went to high school in Arkansas.

[Kevin]

Stephen f Austin on espn 2 right now

[Biggus Piggus]

Eric Curry for Minnesota had 12 pts and 7 rebs in 27 minutes. 4 star freshman PF who went to high school in Arkansas.

Curry played at Southwest Christian Academy in Little Rock, and he was on the Arkansas Wings AAU team. Didn't he grow up in Memphis?

Curry's decision to go to Minnesota instead of Arkansas might have influenced Malik Monk's decision not to stay home, according to one of the recruitniks. That choice - Minnesota over Arkansas - was a real head-scratcher and still is.

Minnesota had just gone 6-12 in the Big Ten in Pitino's second season there, and the team was clearly going to have a harder time in year three. I'm sure the kid didn't realize his coach would be on a short leash this season, but still - Minnesota over Arkansas?

I hope the Hogs can show him what he missed out on.

[Biggus Piggus]

Mount St. Mary's, Arkansas's opponent after Minnesota, got a nice win in OT against George Mason. They lost to Minnesota 80-56, Iowa State 73-55, and West Virginia 87-59. They play Southern Illinois and UT Arlington before going to Michigan. Nasty schedule.

Austin Peay is 3-2 with respectable losses to Dayton and Miami, Ohio.

North Florida lost to Miami, Fla., 94-56 and LSU 78-70.

Some other SEC results:

Davidson 70, Missouri 55. Davidson is always pretty good.

Missouri 67, Tulane 62. Guard KJ Walton scored 20 off the bench.

Mississippi State 80, Boise State 68. At one point the Bulldogs led by 19. Quinndary Weatherspoon scored 25. Boise started one guard and four forwards.

Mississippi State 61, UTEP 54. Sophomore big man Aric Holman scored 18 points, making 8-9 shots. MSU fell behind by 11 early and rallied. UTEP, coached by Tim Floyd, is mediocre.

Alabama 77, Ball State 59. Tide led by as much as 29. Bama shot 52% from 3-pt range. Alabama with scoring ability would be pretty good.

Ole Miss 95, Oral Roberts 88, OT. I mentioned him earlier, transfer from Miami, Fla. Deandre Burnett. Scored 41 points in this game, with nine threes. The Rebels are going to be able to do some things with Burnett outside and Sebastian Saiz inside. Their frontcourt depth stinks.

Ole Miss 81, Saint Joseph's 68. Saiz and Burnett combined for 46 points.

South Carolina 92, South Carolina State 50. This was the breakout game for freshman forward Maik Kotsar (6-10, 245), with 15 pts and 8 boards. He's from Estonia via a prep school in Wichita. South Carolina plays Michigan on Wednesday, and then we'll see how good they are.

[gopherman23]

Curry played at Southwest Christian Academy in Little Rock, and he was on the Arkansas Wings AAU team. Didn't he grow up in Memphis?

Curry's decision to go to Minnesota instead of Arkansas might have influenced Malik Monk's decision not to stay home, according to one of the recruitniks. That choice - Minnesota over Arkansas - was a real head-scratcher and still is.

Minnesota had just gone 6-12 in the Big Ten in Pitino's second season there, and the team was clearly going to have a harder time in year three. I'm sure the kid didn't realize his coach would be on a short leash this season, but still - Minnesota over Arkansas?

I hope the Hogs can show him what he missed out on.

Eric Curry is really good friends with fellow Minnesota Freshman Amir Coffey, which was a big reason he chose us. They met playing on some of the national showcase circuits and became friends. Curry was actually living with the Coffey's for a few weeks before they moved on campus.

[Biggus Piggus]

Forgot to mention: Texas A&M lost to Southern Cal, 65-63, after the Trojans closed the game with a 10-1 run.

Here we saw the weakness of the Aggies' model. They played three guards in the whole game. Their guards were outscored 32-10.

aTm is going 6-10, 6-10, 6-9 up front, but it did not give them an inside scoring or rebounding advantage. USC got 23 rebounds from guards. Without anyone to penetrate with the ball, aTm lacks the ability to get to the free throw line very often.