I watched the Panthers play Saturday and Sunday and here are my rough thoughts, in no particular order or flow:
These guys will turn if over if you let them. Maybe they are tired, I don't know, but man they do not value the ball.
I think D'Rell Roberts is their best player. DeWayne Cox and Markedric Bell are pretty solid. Roberts (and Jawaun Daniels and Jeremiah Gambrell) will heave it up from the arc at any time, so be ready for that. Roberts is a volume shooter who draws fouls.
Roberts, Daniels, and William Douglas do the bulk of the shooting from the floor and from the stripe. Cox shoots it less but is more efficient. Cox is a solid defender at 6'2 and very active defensively, so be ready for that.
Douglas and Bell are serviceable rebounders. I like Bell's game.
Overall the Panthers generally don't take good shots and don't make a lot of shots. They rely on breaking down their man in one on one situations, looking for isolations or for long jumpers. Roberts is a good passer, Douglas is ok, Faite Wililams is ok, the rest of them are turnovers waiting to happen.
Like Tech they are an average free throw shooting team.
What jumps out to me for this game:
Bryson Williams could feast on them today because they are a slightly below average rebounding team. I looked this up because I wanted the exact number: In two games, Williams has as many offensive rebounds as their leading offensive rebounder has in four games - add to that Prairie View has a lot more offensive rebound opportunities because they haven't shot it well. Santos-Silva is probably way too active for this team, that is going to be a problem for the Panthers.
Prairie View is guard heavy (see rebounding directly above). Real guard heavy. Defensively they are soft inside, the closer to the basket you get the easier it gets - that's a bad combination. But, keep the ball up inside. If you put in on the floor the Panthers will take it.
For Tech, Kevin Obanor is shooting 42% from the arc. Wanted to point that out because when he misses two in a row I can hear some gnashing of teeth. 60% of his shots are threes and this seems like a good combination. He should see some shots tonight and can literally shoot over any of their perimeter players. If Bell gets pulled away from the basket on Obanor then the lane is wide open for Tech to wade in and get any rebound or shot they want. I imagine Bell will have strict orders to stay home and if we see guys like Jeremiah Kendall or Jerroda Briscoe come in and provide some outside length against Obanor - that will be a huge mistake because these guys just can't score points and they won't help stop the Raiders.
I don't have a crystal ball but I think the Raiders get good shots inside and get good shots outside tonight. Prairie View will steal it, so Allen, Batcho, Agbo better be ready when they get in the game. Warren, McCullar, and Wilson all handle the ball a lot so I expect them to also lead the team in turnovers - though Wilson seems to be on a different level with his passing ability. I've been wondering how any team's transfer class could be better than the Raiders, something I may have to research but off hand I think it will be a tall order to beat Williams, Warren, Obanor, and Wilson.
I'm kind of excited to see if Batcho, Agbo, and Allen get any significant minutes. This is a good matchup for all of them, with the exception of the steals Prairie View gets. Batcho is taller than any Panther but they will hound him if he puts the ball on the floor. Allen is strong and Agbo is tall on the outside.
I will be watching closely to see how the Tech defense looks compared to the previous two games. We've seen flashes of good defense, that's fine and I hope to see more and more as the season goes on.
These guys will turn if over if you let them. Maybe they are tired, I don't know, but man they do not value the ball.
I think D'Rell Roberts is their best player. DeWayne Cox and Markedric Bell are pretty solid. Roberts (and Jawaun Daniels and Jeremiah Gambrell) will heave it up from the arc at any time, so be ready for that. Roberts is a volume shooter who draws fouls.
Roberts, Daniels, and William Douglas do the bulk of the shooting from the floor and from the stripe. Cox shoots it less but is more efficient. Cox is a solid defender at 6'2 and very active defensively, so be ready for that.
Douglas and Bell are serviceable rebounders. I like Bell's game.
Overall the Panthers generally don't take good shots and don't make a lot of shots. They rely on breaking down their man in one on one situations, looking for isolations or for long jumpers. Roberts is a good passer, Douglas is ok, Faite Wililams is ok, the rest of them are turnovers waiting to happen.
Like Tech they are an average free throw shooting team.
What jumps out to me for this game:
Bryson Williams could feast on them today because they are a slightly below average rebounding team. I looked this up because I wanted the exact number: In two games, Williams has as many offensive rebounds as their leading offensive rebounder has in four games - add to that Prairie View has a lot more offensive rebound opportunities because they haven't shot it well. Santos-Silva is probably way too active for this team, that is going to be a problem for the Panthers.
Prairie View is guard heavy (see rebounding directly above). Real guard heavy. Defensively they are soft inside, the closer to the basket you get the easier it gets - that's a bad combination. But, keep the ball up inside. If you put in on the floor the Panthers will take it.
For Tech, Kevin Obanor is shooting 42% from the arc. Wanted to point that out because when he misses two in a row I can hear some gnashing of teeth. 60% of his shots are threes and this seems like a good combination. He should see some shots tonight and can literally shoot over any of their perimeter players. If Bell gets pulled away from the basket on Obanor then the lane is wide open for Tech to wade in and get any rebound or shot they want. I imagine Bell will have strict orders to stay home and if we see guys like Jeremiah Kendall or Jerroda Briscoe come in and provide some outside length against Obanor - that will be a huge mistake because these guys just can't score points and they won't help stop the Raiders.
I don't have a crystal ball but I think the Raiders get good shots inside and get good shots outside tonight. Prairie View will steal it, so Allen, Batcho, Agbo better be ready when they get in the game. Warren, McCullar, and Wilson all handle the ball a lot so I expect them to also lead the team in turnovers - though Wilson seems to be on a different level with his passing ability. I've been wondering how any team's transfer class could be better than the Raiders, something I may have to research but off hand I think it will be a tall order to beat Williams, Warren, Obanor, and Wilson.
I'm kind of excited to see if Batcho, Agbo, and Allen get any significant minutes. This is a good matchup for all of them, with the exception of the steals Prairie View gets. Batcho is taller than any Panther but they will hound him if he puts the ball on the floor. Allen is strong and Agbo is tall on the outside.
I will be watching closely to see how the Tech defense looks compared to the previous two games. We've seen flashes of good defense, that's fine and I hope to see more and more as the season goes on.
