Ten things to know in AAC basketball: Freshman James Bouknight has sparked UConn
Here are 10 things that the Eagle’s Taylor Eldridge has found interesting from the first month of the season around the American Athletic Conference in men’s basketball.
1. Can anyone box out UConn’s James Bouknight?
Highly touted guard James Bouknight was arrested in late September for driving without a license and then fleeing police after crashing into a pole. After turning himself in, Bouknight was accepted into an accelerated rehabilitation program that could result in charges being dropped.
The arrest cost him the first three games of the season. In the last four games, Bouknight has averaged 13.8 points on 63.6% shooting off the bench as UConn beat Buffalo and Miami (Fla.) and nearly knocked off Xavier in a double-overtime thriller.
Bouknight is a top-100 recruit who has always been heralded for his offensive game, so his scoring punch hasn’t been too much of a surprise. What did surprise me is how good Bouknight, a 6-foot-4, 175-pound guard, has been at offensive rebounding. He’s posting a 12.2% offensive rebounding rate, second-best for UConn, and he’s scored put-backs on seven of his nine offensive rebounds.
It doesn’t appear to be a fluke, either. Bouknight is surprisingly physical for his size and has manhandled opposing guards underneath the basket when shots go up to clear out space for the offensive rebound. He’s also extremely good at reading the flight path of the ball coming out of a shooter’s hand and he’s grabbed a handful of rebounds simply because he’s reacting to where the ball will be before it even hits the rim.
It didn’t take long for Bouknight (132.4 offensive rating) to look like UConn’s most dangerous scorer and it will be interesting to see if UConn coach Dan Hurley continues to bring him off the bench as a scoring punch or promote him to the starting lineup. He’s still learning on the defensive end, but it’s hard to deny Bouknight couldn’t help the Huskies more with more minutes.
I’m sure I’ll be revisiting Bouknight’s offensive game down the road, so I’ll save that for a future post. For now, keep an eye on the Brooklyn baller and how adept he is at crashing the glass when UConn takes on Indiana in a big-time showdown at Madison Square Garden next Tuesday.
2. Kendric Davis has already raised SMU’s ceiling
SMU was already promising to be a frisky team in the AAC, but now that the NCAA has finally cleared TCU transfer Kendric Davis to play, the Mustangs could be a darkhorse contender to push for a top spot in the conference.
Davis, who was the backup point guard at TCU last season as a true freshman, is relishing the promotion as SMU’s starting point guard and has already made a monumental impact in his expanded role. Davis, a 5-foot-11 sophomore, is not only averaging 18 points and 7 assists, but he’s made SMU’s offense so much more dynamic.
It’s worth noting a road test at UNLV is the only semi-tough game he’s played in so far, but it’s still impressive that Davis is scoring at 1.44 points per possession out of the pick and roll, which is ranks in the 100th percentile on Synergy. It’s an extremely limited sample size, but check out how creative Davis is getting to his spot on drives.
My favorite part of his game has been his passing. Davis is posting an absurd 48.8% assist rate, which would rank third in the country if he had played enough minutes.
You can already tell that Davis has a tremendous feel for the game and reads the court. Here’s what teammate Tyson Jolly told the Dallas Morning News after SMU’s last win: “We’ve got the best point guard in the country. “He’s seeing everything on the court. Weakside passes, lobs, backdoors. So our game is easy. We run the court, rebound, defend, and let him do everything else.”
SMU is stocked full of rangy athletes. If any one of them cut to the basket, there’s a good chance Davis will see it coming and throw them a lob at the rim to finish. Passes are like these are why Davis has already changed SMU’s offense:
SMU hasn’t beat a team in the top-150 of KenPom, but that will change this coming week when SMU plays Georgetown (66) at home and then has 13 days off before playing at Georgia (68) on Dec. 20. It’s worth keeping an eye on how Davis does in those two games, as a win over either would signal SMU is a legitimate contender to crack the top four in the AAC this season.
3. Memphis is throwing a block party at the rim
No 7-foot-1 James Wiseman standing next to the rim? No problem for Memphis, which is averaging 6.6 blocks and owns the third-highest block rate in the country.
If you thought Memphis would take a hit during Wiseman’s 12-game suspension (he’s back on Jan. 12), then you miscalculated just how stingy this defense can be. The Tigers have won four straight without Wiseman, including at-the-worst Quadrant 2 wins over Ole Miss and North Carolina State.
A big reason why is that Memphis is protecting the rim better than almost any team in the country. According to Hoop-Math.com, opponents are shooting just 44.9% at the rim (eighth-best in the country) and Memphis is blocking 22.2% of those shots (fourth-best in the country).
One player who has stepped up in Wiseman’s absence is 6-9 sophomore Lance Thomas, a Louisville transfer who is erasing almost everything in front of him when he’s on the court. He hasn’t played enough minutes, but his 14.7% block rate would be top-10 nationally if he qualified.
If you’re wondering just how skilled Thomas is at blocking shots, then look no further than this possession, a master class in pick-and-roll defense for a big:
Thomas contained the ball handler off the screen, jumped to challenge the shot so well that the guard had to abort and make a desperation pass to an open player on the block only to watch Thomas spring off the floor again to swat the shot at the rim. How many defenders can challenge a shot at the free-throw line and block a shot at the rim in a second?
Thomas is still only playing about 11.8 minutes per game because Memphis is still ridiculously loaded, but he’s making a huge impact every time he’s on the floor. He has the ability to lift Memphis in close games with the next likely being at Tennessee on Dec. 14.
4. Member of the Jelly Fam can shoot it too for Tulane
If you watch basketball highlights on Instagram, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of the Jelly Fam, the IG-famous group of New York City hoopers who brought the finger roll back in style.
That’s important to know because a Jelly Fam member is doing way more than finger rolls for Tulane during its surprising 6-1 start to the season. Jordan Walker, who actually goes by “Jelly” and has 119,000 Instagram followers, is a 5-foot-11 sophomore guard who is averaging 10.7 points, knocking down 50% of his three-pointers, posting an excellent assist rate (25%) and a top-20 nationally steal rate (5.2%).
For this week though, we’ll focus solely on Walker’s 13-for-26 outside shooting. When you dive into the numbers, the thing that pops immediately is that all but one of Walker’s three-pointers this season has been of the catch-and-shoot variety. He’s scoring at 1.50 PPP on catch-and-shoot attempts, which is in the 92nd percentile per Synergy.
That means Walker isn’t firing away when he’s up top initiating Tulane’s offense. The majority of those three-point looks are coming on kick-outs to the perimeter and him taking advantage of late close-outs and unsuspecting defenses. That advantage will only dwindle the more film opponents get on Walker and as he gains a reputation as a sniper.
But Walker isn’t just drilling the open shots. He’s shown the ability to knock down some really tough shots over strong close-outs. Tulane loves funneling the ball to him on baseline out of bounds plays, either running him off staggered screens or an elevator screen to get him a three in the corner. Most of the time Walker is catching on the run, going up off-balanced, shooting over a flying defender and still making the shot.
Walker came up big late for Tulane during its come-from-behind win over Utah. It will be worth monitoring to see how he does this week with two big tests for the Green Wave at Southern Miss on Wednesday and against Saint Louis in Phoenix.
5. Chris Vogt living up to his coaches’ hype at Cincinnati
It wasn’t huge news when Chris Vogt announced he would be following coach John Brannen across the Ohio River from Northern Kentucky to transfer to Cincinnati. Vogt had the size (7-1, 260) to intrigue fans, but his averages of 4.5 points and 3.7 rebounds in the Horizon League last season didn’t exactly scream immediate contributor in the American.
But all summer, the new man in charge at Cincinnati raved about Vogt to anyone who would listen, per The Athletic. The reason Vogt didn’t play more for him at NKU was because he was stuck behind an all-conference player and Brannen said he knew all along that he had a stud-in-the-making in Vogt.
He looks to have been right, as Vogt is averaging 13.1 points and 7.0 rebounds so far for Cincinnati. The Bearcats are off to a mercurial 5-2 start with four straight thrillers against teams outside of the KenPom top-100 (Illinois State, Bowling Green, Valparaiso and UNLV), so they’ve needed Vogt’s production even more than expected at center.
Vogt is making 71.2% of his field goals this season because he’s taking two-thirds of his shots at the rim this season. Brannen likes to use Vogt catching a pass at the top of the key, swinging it to the wing and initiating a side pick-and-roll with the big man. It puts defenses in a bind because of the ball movement and Vogt is finishing on 80% of his shots at the rim.
Vogt has also proven to be a dependable low-block scorer, as he is making 61% of his shots on post-ups, per Synergy. But he has also shown he is prone to turning the ball over in those situations when guards scrape down on him or a double-team comes.
It’s always fascinating to see how traditional centers fare against teams with athletic and pick-and-pop centers. Will UC will be able to rely on Vogt for 30 minutes per game against top-tier opponents? Or will the big man’s minutes be limited, as other teams try to play him off the court?
Stay tuned: Cincinnati plays a pretty good Vermont team at home on Tuesday, then plays Xavier on Saturday in the always-electric Crosstown Shootout.
6. Teams need to start treating Houston’s Marcus Sasser as a sniper
It’s easy to be lost in the mix when you’re on a team with guards like Quentin Grimes, DeJon Jarreau, Nate Hinton and Caleb Mills. But it’s time to take note of freshman Marcus Sasser, who came to Houston as a rather anonymous three-star recruit.
Even on a team loaded with so much talent at guard, Houston coach elevated Sasser to the starting lineup twice already this season. He’s averaging 10.2 points, knocking down 50% of his three-pointers (on 6 attempts per game) with just three turnovers in his first 116 minutes of Division I ball.
It’s clear, at least this early in the season, that opponents are willing to live with Sasser shooting opposed to Grimes, Jarreau, Hinton or Mills. While that may have seemed smart when Sasser was rather anonymous, he’s quickly changing opinions with his three-point shooting.
So far this season teams have been paying for leaving Sasser completely open on the three-point line, whether it’s in transition or on offensive rebound kick-outs or even simply rotating the ball around the perimeter. If he can continue knocking down threes at a high clip, then he’s going to start spacing the floor and opening up driving lanes for his more-heralded teammates.
It’s fair pointing out that Sasser has been 0-for-6 on threes against Houston’s two toughest opponents, Oregon and BYU. He’s going to have to prove it against the top-level teams and not just against overmatched teams at home. Houston’s next big game is this Sunday when it travels to South Carolina.
7. Perry becoming a Swiss Army knife for Temple
The Owls are off to a 6-1 start under first-year coach Aaron McKie, as they have racked up three potential Quadrant 2 wins at USC and over Texas A&M and Davidson on a neutral floor. Quinton Rose and Nate Pierre-Louis will (deservedly) garner the headlines for the fast start, but don’t overlook the improved play of junior power forward De’Vondre Perry off the bench.
That might not seem like the case considering Perry, who started 20 games for Temple last season, is coming off the bench and his averages of 6.7 points, 2.6 rebounds, 0.9 steals and 0.6 blocks are nothing flashy. That’s why context is required.
Perry was a career 28% three-point shooter in his first two years at Temple. This season he’s drilling 44% on an even higher volume (2.6 attempts per game). That ability to stretch the floor and make opponents pay for coming off him to stave off drives by Rose and Pierre-Louis is huge for Temple.
And he’s doing all of the little things much better on a per-minute basis than he was last season. Perry has more than doubled his offensive rebounding rate (7.6%) and block rate (4.4%) to the ones he posted last season, while his steal rate of 2.7% is also a career-best. He’s long and athletic for a 6-7, 220-pound frame, which allows him to disrupt in the passing lanes, recover for basket-saving blocks at the rim and rebound bigger than his size.
So while Perry isn’t doing anything flashy this season, he is doing the things his role on the team demands and doing them better than he ever has before. The Owls have another big showdown this week, as they will host Missouri (KenPom 43) on Saturday.
8. Freshman becoming a clutch sharpshooter for UCF
UCF is off to a 5-2 start (four games have been decided by four points or less) and the biggest surprise so far has been the immediate impact of freshman Darin Green Jr. The 6-foot-4 shooting guard has been promoted to the starting lineup the last three games and is averaging 10.1 points and hitting 40% of his three-pointers on 5.4 attempts per game.
It’s surprising to outsiders because Green Jr. was not recruited heavily out of high school. But maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise because he was his school’s all-time leading scorer and has a handful of three-point shooting contest titles under his belt.
Green Jr. is also starting to develop a knack for coming up big in the clutch moments for UCF. He hit a crucial go-ahead three at Illinois State to help spur UCF to a 67-65 victory, then also hit the apparent game-tying shot to force overtime against Penn but replay showed Green Jr. was on the three-point line in a 68-67 loss.
Where Green Jr. has been the most dangerous is in UCF’s pick-and-roll game. Usually it’s Dazon Ingram using a screen up top from Collin Smith and when Smith rolls to the basket, the help-side defender on the wing slides down to account for Smith. But Green Jr. is making defenses pay, as UCF is spotting him up on the wing and finding him whenever the defense leaves him at the arc.
If Green Jr. can continue to drill this shot, UCF’s offense could be sneaky good entering AAC play.
9. BV Northwest product is a thief for Tulsa
The name Darien Jackson should sound familiar to Kansas high school basketball fans because he helped lead Blue Valley Northwest to the Class 6A championship as a senior during the 2016-17 season.
It’s still crazy to me that he has yet to make a three in now his third year at Tulsa, but that’s not Jackson’s role. He’s a high-energy defender who is still a threat on offense because of his slashing and finishing ability at the rim. He’s averaging 9.9 points, second-most on the team, and shooting 61% from the field, thanks to his 71% finishing rate at the rim.
He’s also picking the pocket of opponents at a career-best 4.0% steal rate, which is top-100 in the country. His anticipation on defense has been huge for Tulsa, which is coming off a big-time win at Vanderbilt. The Golden Hurricane should rack up two more wins this week, which would make them 8-1 and give them the best start to a season in a decade.
10. Freshman shooter has been a pleasant surprise in rocky start for ECU
Finding any kind of consistency outside of Jayden Gardner is the goal for East Carolina this winter.
While the Pirates are off to a rocky 2-6 start in November, one pleasant surprise has been the play of 6-foot-6 freshman wing Brandon Suggs, who is averaging the most points (10.5) outside of Gardner.
Suggs is constantly in attack mode and he uses his length to finish over and through contact at the rim. He’s finishing at an extremely high rate of 61.5% on shots around the basket in the half-court and also drawing 6.3 fouls per game (top-100 rate in country). Suggs has shot nearly as many free throws (39) as field goals (49) and is cashing in on 82.1% of his trips to the line.
It’s been a rough November for the Pirates, which has road losses at Navy (KenPom 256), Appalachian State (170) and James Madison (239) and neutral-court losses to UMKC (248) and Rice (160). The good news is that ECU has five straight games at home against beatable opponents to build some momentum before AAC play.
This story was originally published December 3, 2019 at 6:00 AM.
.jpg)