SMU @ UCF: Post-game Review (W 70-45)

Matt's thoughts:

I’d like to start off with the player who I thought deserved to be player of the game: AJ Tyler. This guy is becoming a beast at the power forward position within only a few games. Before the game against Southern Miss, he seemed like a decent player off the bench, but still more suited to play the SF than the PF. Tonight he proved his worth and more while recording the first double-double of his career in points and rebounds. He boxes out well on defense and crashes the boards on offense. He’s got great presence inside even though his body isn’t as big as other 4’s. He’s got versatility and speed, and most of all, he’s got solid defense. He’s on his way to becoming my favorite player. He played like a man tonight, picking up the slack when Tony Davis came out of the game bleeding.

AJ Rompza had a solid game tonight with 11 assists (including quite a few gorgeous passes I might add). He also ended up with 6 rebounds some way or another, another show of his effort and intensity.

I cannot stress enough how happy I am with our free throw shooting this year. Yet again we come away with an impeccable percentage from the line, going 12-13 as a team.

Taylor Young and Tony Davis were both injured in the first half, but came back to play in the second half. Let’s hope that’s all that comes of their injuries, and that they have a speedy recovery.

Something that may take a while to heal is Kory Pugh’s pride. He racked up two steals tonight, one that left him on a breakaway all by himself towards the opponent’s hoop. Now in the pre-game, Pugh seemed to dunk with very little problem. During the game it seemed to be a bit different. Kory went up for the dunk and missed…with no one within twenty feet of him. I feel bad for the kid, and I hope he can recover and record his first points on the season on something just as motivating as a big dunk like he tried to do.

Overall I was very happy with this game. Taylor Young showed his reluctance to shoot again, but it didn’t hurt us tonight with SMU barely scoring at all. Thankfully they shot a lowly 29.8% from the field. I was happy to see some decent playing time out of Kuba, as well as Isaac at the 1 spot. I’d like to see his dribbling improve, and that’s one way to see his progress.