AAC Basketball: Biggest strengths/weaknesses of each team in 2021-22
Biggest Strength of Each Team
Houston: Defense
Defense has been the calling card for Kelvin Sampson’s teams for years and it has paid huge dividends for the Cougars. Houston has finished in the top 30 in the country in defensive ranking each of the last four seasons and is currently 12th this year. The very active and athletic Cougars play extremely hard on that end of the floor and they guard every bit of space.
They are holding opponents to the third-fewest made field goals in the nation (18.9) on just 51.4 shot attempts. Houston’s defense rank in the top-25 in the country in field goal percentage steals, turnover percentage, and scoring.
Wichita State: Defending the 3-point line
Like Houston, Wichita State has a solid defensive scheme — whether they are in man-to-man or zone — and they “bring it” every night on that end. While Wichita State does a fantastic job at defending all spots on the floor, what they do best is defending the 3-point arc. The Shockers rank 40th in the country in defensive rating and they have allowed more than six 3-pointers in a game in just four of their first 12 contests.
Not only has WSU done a very good job at contesting their opponents’ shots from long distance, they have also done superb job at running them off the 3-point line. The Shockers are holding their opponents to 5.8 3-pointers (30th nationally) on 20.5 attempts (79th) for the 48th best 3-point shooting defense percentage in the nation at 28.8%.
East Carolina: Sharing the ball
The Pirates get everyone involved in the offense as eight of the top-9 players in their rotation average five or more points a game. Moreover, 61% of the ECU’s 24 baskets a game have been assisted upon. Overall, the Pirates rank second in the American and 70th nationally with 15.4 assists in a contest.
Newton leads the way with 5.0 dimes while backup point guard Tremont Robinson-White averages 3.3 assists. Brandon Suggs. Vance Jackson, J.J. Miles, and Brandon Johnson gives ECU six players who average at least one assist a game.
Cincinnati: Physical defense
The Bearcats, like the Cougars and a number of conference teams, take pride in their defensive prowess. While not as efficient as Houston on the defensive end, Cincinnati is very good in its own right as the Bearcats enjoy emploring their physical will on their opponents. UC’s defense ranks ninth in the nation in defensive effective field goal percentage (41.6%) as they are holding their opponents to less than five 3-pointers a contest.
The Bearcats also rank in the top 35 nationally in several other categories such as defensive efficiency, scoring, field goal percentage, 2-point field goal percentage, and 3-point field goal percentage.
UCF: Free-throw shooting.
The Knights are a very good shooting team, ranking 59th in the country in true shooting percentage at 59%. UCF gets nearly 19% of its scoring from the free-throw line as they shoot slightly less than 80% from the charity stripe (13.9-17.5), which is the ninth-best percentage in the nation. Brandon Mahan leads the way, draining all 24 of his free throw attempts. Only one Knight is shooting under 70% from the charity stripe.
SMU: 3-point shooting.
The Mustangs have made at least seven triples in each of the first 12 games and they have three games of 11 or more makes. Overall, SMU is shooting 38.3% from the 3-point line, which ranks 26th nationally, as the Mustangs average 9.2 (61st) 3-pointers a game on 23.9 attempts.
Leading scorer Kendric Davis drains 2.3 triples a game and shoots 40.4% from downtown. Meanwhile, designated shooters Emmanuel Bandoumel and Zach Nutall each are canning 2.1 triples a contest.