SDSU 101, Southern Miss 76 Post-Game Thread

[JackJD]

A game day thread wasn't started for the Souuthern Miss game...but maybe it was just as well. Jacks rolled fast and far in the first half before Southern Miss came to life. Attendance was 2920 in spite of nasty blizzard-like travel conditions Northeast SD. Final score was SDSU 101, Southern Miss 76.

The Jacks are coming together and there were a number of noteworthy plays and players. The Jacks started early and with just minutes off the clock, led 17-1. Jacks finished the first half 55-32.. The Jacks shot just over 61 per cent from the field for the entire game, compared to 30.56 per cent by the visitors. SDSU hit 8 of 20 three-point shots while Southern Miss struggled with just 7 of 35 three-point attempts going into the hoop. SDSU made 21 of 29 free-throw attempts for 72.4 per cent. So miss was 17 of 29 for 58.6 per cent.

Box score on GoJacks.com: https://gojacks.com/sports/mens-bask...boxscore/14209

During the game, I was pretty tempted to say out loud what I was thinking: This team, if it continues on its current trajectory, may be better than last year's team (by a fair margin) . And, while I don't like the transfer portal and in particular was not happy about what we lost due to transfers from last year's team, there's a voice in my head saying "don't knock the transfer portal...look at what the transfer portal has done for SDSU this year."

And the newcomers to the Jackrabbit team! This is an exciting team that is clearly enjoying what they're doing. Jaden Jackson led all scorers with 19. Oscar Cluff scored 16 points and had 9 rebounds. Kalen Garry scored 14 points and Stoney Hadnot and Matt Mors scored 12 and 10 respectively.

[filbert]

I watched most of the game...I don't know how good/bad USM is, but it looked like the Jacks were playing pretty good defense for the most part throughout the game.

[73alum]

Southern Miss was preseason picked 5th in the 14 member Southland Conference so the thought is that they would be decent. Still have to play the games!!!

[DieselJacks]

It seemed like Southern Miss has plenty of talented players, but the effort and coaching was simply not there in the first half for Southern Miss. A lot of easy looks in the paint for the Jacks.

[JacksFan80]

Jacks have bounced back nicely since Northern Colorado, hopefully they keep it going into the Cayman Islands.

[bigticket1]

It seemed like Southern Miss has plenty of talented players, but the effort and coaching was simply not there in the first half for Southern Miss. A lot of easy looks in the paint for the Jacks.

I remember watching Curbelo 4 or 5 years ago when he was a really good freshman at Illinois. He's bounced around a lot since then, but certainly hasn't developed the talent he has/had.

[JackrabbitGuy]

I think that SDSU did play pretty good defense but also Southern Miss seemed incredibly willing to settle for no-flow jump shots several possessions in a row. Our guys can take some credit, but I was surprised how easily they could be lulled into poor shots at times.

[da_coach]

So Miss didn't put up much of a fight.

Golly, are Jackson and Hadnot exciting prospects. Good Grief. (and Larson, too)

After having Charlie and Mims the last few years at wing... (and I LOVED those guys, not complaining), it's exciting to have wings with the athleticism these guys show.
(also heard from a student who saw Burton play pickup one day...that he is another...)

This is going to be a really fun team to cheer for this year.

[bigticket1]

So Miss didn't put up much of a fight.

Golly, are Jackson and Hadnot exciting prospects. Good Grief. (and Larson, too)

After having Charlie and Mims the last few years at wing... (and I LOVED those guys, not complaining), it's exciting to have wings with the athleticism these guys show.
(also heard from a student who saw Burton play pickup one day...that he is another...)

This is going to be a really fun team to cheer for this year.

Watched Burton warm up before the Pentagon game and he certainly looked athletic and shoots well from 3 point range. He will really benefit from a year in the weight room. Going forward, I think Hadnot and Burton have the size to play the traditional small forward (3) spot, similar to what Tellinghuisen did. Going with 3 smaller guards last year hurt defensively against bigger physical teams like Creighton.