Game 5: Gophers play SMU in Tempe (11-17-24)

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Ignatius L Hoops

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THE BIG TEN ACC CHALLENGE (sort of)

SMU’s head coach Toyelle Wilson’s problem was the opposite of Oregon State’s Rueck’s. Whereas OSU moved down from the PAC 12 to the WCC, SMU moved up from the AAC to the ACC (what a difference a letter makes). SMU was welcomed to the Atlantic Coast Conference with a pre-season projection of 16th in an 18 team League.

Toyelle Wilson is in her fourth season with the Mustangs. She arrived on the Hilltop after assistant coaching stints with Michigan (two years) and Baylor (six years working for Kim Mulkey).

Wilson was hired in April 2021 after SMU parted ways with Travis Mays following various lawsuits and a player exodus citing abusive behavior by Mays. It was also a team which played a six loss covid shortened season.

Despite these headwinds, Wilson guided the Mustangs to back to back 5th place AAC finishes and back to back WNIT appearances. The records were around ,500; but it was progress.

Last season was a step back. Citing injuries, SMU finished 11th in the 14 team AAC (8-10).

Then in late Spring the move to the ACC was announced and Toyelle Wilson hit the transfer portal for some immediate upgrades. Seven players answered the call. The two most prominent were:

5’7” junior guard Nya Robertson a scorer from George Washington. Robertson, a Fort Worth native, is averaging 22 points, 6.7 rebounds in 32.8 minutes per game, She is a three point threat.

5’5” graduate guard Zanai Jones is an experienced player from Villanova where she played with future Hawkeye Lucy Olsen. She is averaging 4.7 points, 2.7 rebounds in 27.3 minutes per game.

SMU is 2-1 after 3 games. They defeated North Carolina A&T 77-64, lost to Old Dominion 70-79 and defeated Western Michigan 72-44. The Mustangs will face Arizona State before lining up against the Gophers.

Other players of note:

6’1” senior forward Chantae Embry is averaging 13.3 points, 7.7 rebounds in 26.7 minutes. And 6’2” senior center Jessica Peterson is averaging 10.3 points, 10 rebounds in 29 minutes. Peterson missed last season with an injury.

Conference reorganization sunk the old ACC-B1G challenge. Here’s hoping for a return,
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smumustangs.com

Mustangs Drop Game On The Road To Arizona State - SMU Athletics

Box Score | Final Game Book
smumustangs.com smumustangs.com

Guard Nya Robertson led SMU in scoring for the fourth straight game and ended the night with 25 points. She scored 20 of her 25 points in the second half and shot 7-of-15 from the floor and 4-of-8 from beyond the arc. It was her 22nd career game, scoring 20 or more points. Robertson also went a season-high 7-of-7 from the foul line.

Zanai Jones finished the game with a season-high 14 points and added four assists. She went 2-3 from beyond the arc as the Mustangs made a season-high eight three-pointers.
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If the refs call it like this all day, SMU is going to have multiple starters foul out. What an ugly 1st quarter.
 


Katogopher said:
What an ugly game, Gophers are not a good shooting team.
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They've never been an efficient scoring team though with this main core of players. 4 of the 5 starters were sub 40% on FG last year which is the mark of very inefficient shooting.

There are going to be many games that the Gophers are going to be held in the 40s and 50s this season. Doesn't mean they can't win games but it does mean that the defense and rebounding has to be really good. Its certainly not going to be a pretty brand of basketball on the eyes this year, but the opportunity to make the big dance is there.
 


Gophers up 25-22 at the half. Woodson has been playing well. Nice to have better depth this year.
 



Nice to see Stewart getting hot from 3, Gophers needed that badly.
 




Woodson and Stewart have been fantastic in this game off the bench! 29 of the teams 48 points!
 













In both games, the Gophers had solid 4th quarters to seal the win. Glad our bench runs deeper, especially in a back-to-back weekend series. Nice win when you're not playing your best.
 

Couldn't watch the game so I'm curious: who was(n't) guarding Robertson? Or was the game plan "make Robertson beat us?" Which she nearly did
 


gopherdudepart2 said:
I'll take the win on the road. Very glad Woodson and Stewart decided to come home and be Gophers. This years team has a lot more depth and that should help them achieve sustained success.
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Woodson and Stewart saved the day. SMU is highly likely to be a 20 loss team. Losing to them would really hurt the tourney resume.
 


Would have like to see coach P use Johnson to spell Braun and GG a bit more. 39 minutes for Braun and 37 for GG when both were struggling a bit with shooting. Johnson has shown she is fully capable of playing some minutes and still be able to score. Like to see Braun more at the 30-33 minutes and GG more around the 30 minutes. It was back to back games too. Long season and grueling Big 10 season will come soon. Have a deep bench.. USE IT!
 



drewhaus7 said:
Would have like to see coach P use Johnson to spell Braun and GG a bit more. 39 minutes for Braun and 37 for GG when both were struggling a bit with shooting. Johnson has shown she is fully capable of playing some minutes and still be able to score. Like to see Braun more at the 30-33 minutes and GG more around the 30 minutes. It was back to back games too. Long season and grueling Big 10 season will come soon. Have a deep bench.. USE IT!
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Braun led the team in assists and appears to have drawn defenders, GG led the team in rebounding. Add defense to that and Coach P must have felt they needed to play big minutes.
 

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