Texas State is back on the road in an intriguing game against what I’d consider close to a “peer opponent” against UNLV on Wednesday night. Other than the Air Force game, TXST has been a huge favorite or underdog in every game this year. This is expected to be a match-up of pretty even teams.
TXST News
- Starting PF Isiah Small had a career high 20 points and a near double-double with 8 rebounds to lead TXST to a win in their first game of the “Southwestern Showdown” Monday night against Jackson State. Small has alleviated some of the stress of having to replace Alex Peacock in last year’s lineup, even going 3/3 from 3 on Monday. Small also leads the Sun Belt in rebounding at 8.8 per game and is top 25 in the country in total rebounds with 44.
- Senior wing Nijal Pearson surpassed the 1600 career points mark against Jackson State, becoming the 4th ever Bobcat to do so. He needs 13 points vs. UNLV to move into 3rd on TXST’s all-time scorers’ list.
- Texas State had a season high 18 turnovers vs. Jackson State. Turnovers were also the primary issue in a close defeat to a ranked Baylor team last week. If there’s one area this team needs to improve on quickly, its taking care of the basketball.
Scouting UNLV
UNLV is 2-3 so far on the season, and like Texas State, is 1-0 so far in the Southwestern Showdown. They opened the season with a win at home vs. Purdue Fort Wayne (formerly IPFW, I guess that school split into two separate universities, learned something new today), before losing 3 in a row. They lost in OT to Kansas State at home, then lost another OT game @ Cal before dropping a game in regulation @ UCLA last week. They opened the Southwestern Showdown with a home win over ACU on Monday to sit at 2-3 going into the TXST game.
Last year UNLV went 17-14 overall and 11-7 in MWC play, finishing in a tie for 4th place with San Diego State. That SDSU team beat them in the MWC tourney quarterfinals to end UNLV’s season. They were picked to take a step back and finish 7th in the 11 team conference this year in the preseason poll (just ahead of Air Force, who already beat the Bobcats).
Last year’s leading returning scorer (2nd last year) is back and is leading the Runnin’ Rebels in scoring through 5 games so far this year. 6’2″ Jr. G Amauri Hardy is averaging 19 PPG so far this season, 2nd best in the Mountain West. An efficient scorer, Hardy is top 10 in the MWC in both FG% (48.1%, 7th) and 3-point FG% (41.9%, 2nd). Hardy has won the MWC’s Academic All-Conference award in back-to-back seasons so is likely a very intelligent player and averaged 13 PPG last year. Hardy is a dangerous perimeter player who takes almost 40% of his shots from 3.
The team’s 2nd leading scorer may be a familiar name to some who follow college basketball in the state of Texas as Texas Longhorn grad transfer Elijah Mitrou-Long is currently averaging 12.6 PPG. The 6’1″ G is on his 3rd D1 team after playing two seasons at Mount St. Mary’s and 1 season at Texas. He was 1st team all-NEC and the leading scorer for The Mount his sophomore year before averaging 5.6 PPG at Texas last year. Mitrou-Long will still shoot it from 3, but is less dangerous than the other guards on the floor. We likely match Harrell up to Mitrou-Long as he’s their shortest starter at 6’1″ (still a 4 inch advantage on Harrell). Both Hardy and Mitrou-Long rarely leave the floor as they play the 1st and 2nd most MPG in the conference respectively with Hardy playing 38.2 per game and Mitrou-Long 35.2 per game (The two OT games probably help push them closer to the top, but still).
The 3rd big scoring weapon is Utah transfer Donnie Tillman. Tillman is a 6’7″ forward averaging 12.4 PPG. Likely a stretch 4 he’s shooting 35.7% from 3 so far and is only pulling down 4.4 RPG. Last year’s PAC 12 sixth man of the year he averaged 10.5 PPG for Utah and shot 36.1% from 3. Tillman will no doubt be Small’s defensive assignment. The other two starters are 3-point specialist 6’5″ G Jonah Antonio and their big man and defender/rebounder 6’11” F Cheikh Mbacke Diong from Senegal. Antonio averages just 6.8 PPG but 28 of his 33 shots have been from 3. His job is evident. Diong averages 7.2 PPG but pulls down 10.6 RPG, 4th in the MWC and his 11 blocks are best in the MWC. Terry/Sule will have their hands full with Diong and interior scoring may be hard to come by for TXST in this one.
UNLV only really plays 6-7 guys total. Hopefully this is a team that can be worn down with the way we defend. 4 of the 5 starters will shoot it from 3 so perimeter defending will be important. Their personnel lines up pretty closely to TXST’s with the exception of their 3 inch size advantage down low with Diong over Terry. Diong isn’t one of their primary scorers, but I wonder if they make a concerted effort to get him involved offensively tonight.
Last Meeting
Just like vs. Jackson State this is the first ever meeting between TXST and UNLV. The Southwestern Showdown is providing us with first time games vs. a couple teams here.
Odds/Time/TV
UNLV opened as a 4.5 point favorite and that’s stayed more or less steady at 4.5. Expect a tight game.
Late night action for us as this game will tip off at 9pm our time.
No linear TV that I can see, but should have a free stream here:
https://unlvrebels.com/sports/2018/7/31/mountain-west-digital-network.aspx
