Scouting Report: Texas A&M-Commerce Lions

This has been quite the week for the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions. Their season began on opening night with a trip to face #15 Texas A&M. That contest ended in a 78-46 loss. Then, on Wednesday, the Lions traveled to Lubbock and lost to Texas Tech 73-46. Friday’s trip to Lexington to face the No. 16 Kentucky Wildcats actually won’t even end the week. Texas A&M-Commerce will continue north to face Purdue Fort Wayne on Sunday. It will be a long, exhausting, and likely 0-4 week for the Lions. However, those four road trips are highly profitable as well. Credit to coach Jaret von Rosenberg for taking lumps and cashing checks to start their second season as a Division I program.

As for Kentucky, their season couldn’t have started off any better. The Wildcats cruised to an impressive 40-point victory over New Mexico State on Monday. Five ‘Cats scored in double-figures with Tre Mitchell not far behind finishing with 9 points, 9 rebounds, and a team-leading 5 assists. Everything we saw in the preseason with Kentucky’s “new” offense was reaffirmed in their first real action of the season. Now they get one more opportunity for a tuneup before taking on #1 Kansas in the Champions Classic. It can be hard to take much away from a game against an opponent ranked in the 300s per KenPom. However, with Coach Calipari having such a young team, on-court reps against any opponent are valuable.

As usual, we have prepared a full, in-depth scouting report for Kentucky’s second opponent of the young season. We will take a deep dive into the Lions’ personnel, break down their offensive and defensive schemes, and highlight the keys to the game for the ‘Cats. Let’s dive on in and get to know more about the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions.

Texas A&M-Commerce Lions Personnel

Starters

#10 Alonzo Dodd: 6’1″ 170 lbs, Sophomore Guard

4.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.5 apg

Lefty. Point Guard. Much more aggressive as a driver than as a shooter. Closeout short, back up, and stay between him and the basket. No left-hand drives!!! He is really looking to drive it left. Likes to shoot the floater on the way to the basket. Will get all the way to the rim going left and shoot the floater going right. Get your hands up to contest. Go UNDER the ballscreens and handoffs. We are not worried about him shooting it behind. 13-47 career from 3. Do not over help when he is driving it, especially when he is driving it right. He is generally driving to pass the deeper he takes it. Stay home and we will guard him one-on-one. Should not get beat off of the dribble from the perimeter. No left hand drives. No layups.

#2 Kalen Williams: 6’2″ 175 lbs, Senior Guard

11.5 ppg, 0.5 rpg, 1.0 apg

Most aggressive offensive player. Very willing shooter so far this season, but not a high percentage. Slow release. We can close out a step short and still get a hand up to give a hard contest. More concerned about him driving it right. No right-hand drives! He is very quick in a straight line. We do not want him to be able to attack our closeouts. Likes to use the left-to-right crossover or an inside-out dribble to get downhill to his right hand. Stay between him and the basket. You can hop underneath the ballscreens and handoffs. We will adjust if he makes a couple. Get the ball stopped in transition. Will turn some of his drives into post moves. Right hand, left shoulder inside. Be physical, wall up, and make him score over you. No right-hand drives. No layups.

#11 Khaliq Abdul-Mateen: 6’1″ 186 lbs, Junior Guard

3.0 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.5 apg

Very aggressive shooter. Not a high-percentage shooter, but he is very willing. 76 of 116 shots were 3’s last season while making 28.9%. This year, 9 of 11 shots have been 3’s but he has made just 2. Still, he is hunting catch-and-shoot 3’s. We need to be there on the catch to give a hard contest. No uncontested catch-and-shoot 3’s. Be more cautious helping off of him, tighten up as the ball comes towards you, and be there to give a hard contest. He is going to look to drive it right once you take away the initial catch-and-shoot 3. Get OVER the ballscreens and handoffs. CHASE off of down screens and get OVER the flares. If you switch, switch aggressively to try and steal the ball. No catch-and-shoot 3’s!

#3 Tommie Lewis: 6’2″ 180 lbs, Senior Guard

3.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 1.0 apg

SHOOTER! No uncontested catch-and-shoot 3’s. Over half of his shots were 3s last season and he made 48.8%. 0-6 this season, but still over half of his shots have been 3s. He wants to catch and shoot. Be more cautious helping off of him, tighten up as the ball comes towards you, and be there to give a hard contest. Pressure him on the perimeter. Not super comfortable handling it. He would rather catch and shoot. 5 turnovers in two games this season. Get up into him and try to make him give it up. That pairs nicely with the game plan to take him away from 3. Get OVER the ballscreens and handoffs. CHASE off of down screens and get OVER the flares. If you switch, switch aggressively to try and steal the ball. No catch-and-shoot 3s!

24 Jerome Brewer Jr.: 6’9″ 216 lbs, Sophomore Forward

12.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 0.0 apg

Best all-around player. Skilled, face-up forward. Very willing shooter. No uncontested catch-and-shoot or pick-and-pop 3’s! He is going to pick-and-pop on the perimeter. Faces up on all post catches. He is looking to face up and drive it right or shoot the little jump shot. Contest all jumpers. No right-hand drives! He will shot-fake and drive it from the perimeter as well. They will run some isolation stuff to get him in space. Closeout with high hands and choppy feet to give a hard contest to the 3, then bounce back and guard the right-hand drive. Switch when he ballscreens to take away the pick-and-pop. Pressure him when we switch. There will be chances to take it off of him. Right hand, left shoulder inside. Box out. No uncontested catch-and-shoot 3s.

Bench

#0 Zondrick Garrett: 6’8″ 215 lbs, Junior Forward

4.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 1.0 apg

Strong, athletic, backup forward. Lefty. Looking for opportunities to rim run out ahead of the defense. Don’t let him run harder than you down the floor in transition. Ballscreens and rolls in the half-court. Really likes to slip ballscreens. Don’t get slipped on. Likes to flash and cut into space on the interior. Don’t let him cut your face. Very active inside. Left hand, right shoulder in the post. Be physical, wall up, and make him score over you. Will face up and drive it left. No left-hand drives from the mid-post. Will crash the offensive glass. Box out! No easy left-hand, right-shoulder baskets.

#23 KC Ugwuakazi: 6’8″ 215 lbs, Freshman Forward

3.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 0.0 apg

Athletic 5-man. Started their first game and came off the bench in their second. Ballscreens and rolls to the rim. Not really looking to throw it to him on the roll. Just give ground and stay lower than him to take away the lob. He is very bouncy and athletic inside. Plays out of the dunker’s spot a lot. Do not over help on drives off of him. Stunk, fake, and stay home to take away the dunks at the rim. He isn’t going to score much with you between him and the basket. Right hand, left shoulder inside. Be physical, wall up, and make him score over you. Active on the offensive glass. Box out. Don’t help up and give up a dunk to him.

#30 Evan Phelps: 6’0″ 180 lbs, Freshman Guard

3.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.0 apg

Very willing shooter. 7 of 8 shots have been 3s. No uncontested catch-and-shoot 3s. Be more cautious helping off of him, tighten up as the ball comes towards you, and be there to give a hard contest. Pressure him on the perimeter. Not super comfortable handling it. He would rather catch and shoot. Get up into him and try to make him give it up. That pairs nicely with the game plan to take him away from 3. Get OVER the ballscreens and handoffs. CHASE off of down screens and get OVER the flares. If you switch, switch aggressively to try and steal the ball. No catch-and-shoot 3s!

#1 James “Pop” Weathers: 6’0″ 180 lbs, Junior Guard

1.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 3.0 apg

Backup point guard. Will be the primary ball handler a lot when he is in there. He is a non-shooter. Right-hand driver!!! No right-hand drives! Go UNDER the ballscreens and handoffs. Closeout short to him on the perimeter. Back up and stay between him and the basket. Not worried about him shooting it from the perimeter. When he drives it right he likes to shot-fake and pivot around at the end of his drives. Stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. Always coming back to his right to finish. Get the ball stopped in transition. Do not over help when he drives it. The deeper he takes it the more he is driving to pass. No right-hand drives. No layups.

Texas A&M-Commerce Lions Offense

It hasn’t been pretty on the offensive end of the floor for the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions. Admittedly, the competition has been very tough. That won’t change on Friday night obviously. However, no matter who they are playing, the metrics are not friendly to the Lions. They are shooting below 30% from the field and are just 9-63 from three-point range. Per Synergy, they are scoring just 0.617 points per possession which is 338th in the country right now. Without an uncharacteristically hot night from three-point range, it is hard to imagine Texas A&M-Commerce having much luck at Rupp Arena.

In terms of scheme, Coach von Rosenberg is primarily a 4-around-1 Motion base offense. However, they haven’t shown a whole lot of “motion” in their first two games. The offense has stagnated with a lack of movement and lack of playmaking ability. Against Texas Tech they ran a couple of more sets out of a Horns alignment, had a high ballscreen action that was semi-effective, and set a lot of middle flare screens early in possessions. Ball pressure will be able to take them out of a lot of what they want to do offensively.

---

A lot of what the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions will run in the half-court is predicated around getting #24 Brewer Jr. the ball in space. This is a diagonal backscreen action they will run to get him a catch off of the block. Once the ball got moved to #1 Weathers and he drove it the defenders needed to tighten up to their man. That is especially true when guarding #30 Phelps. #1 Weathers is driving to PASS and #30 Phelps wants to catch-and-shoot. Tighten up as it is driven towards you!

---

Just like our Spain/stack action, the Lions will run the same thing usually with #24 Brewer Jr. setting the backscreen and popping. Similar to the clip above, the defensive breakdown comes after the initial called action. There is no reason to give up right-hand drives to #1 Weathers. He is a NON-SHOOTER!!! Just back up and guard the right-hand drive. You should not give up any layups to him.

---

This has become Texas A&M-Commerce’s favorite half court action. They get a little pre-movement on a side to set up a high ballscreen with the roll-replace from the strong side corner. In this instance though #1 Weathers rejects the ballscreen to drive it right. That CANNOT happen. He is the Lions’ best playmaker off of the dribble. However, he is also a complete non-shooter. Getting beat off of the dribble forces the help at the rim which gives up the alley-oop dunk.

---

#24 Brewer Jr. is the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions’ best player and he is definitely a willing shooter. However, don’t forget that he is 2-12 from 3 this season and shot 30.5% last year as well. We want to give a hard contest to his catch-and-shoot 3s, but we definitely do not want to let him attack our closeout going to his right. You need to close out with high hands and choppy feet so you are ready to contest while not getting driven by.

---

Here is another look at what became Texas A&M-Commerce’s favorite action against Texas Tech. If you are going to guard #10 Dodd that far beyond the arc you need to be up pressuring him. If you get burnt a time or two while really pressuring him we will live with it because you will also force turnovers. However, if you aren’t going to pressure him, then BACK UP and go UNDER the ballscreens. He is a non-shooter from beyond the arc. What you see in this clip cannot happen. The defender isn’t really pressuring the ball but also gets beat to his left hand off of the dribble.

Texas A&M-Commerce Lions Defense

For as ugly as back-to-back 46-point performances look for the offense, the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions defense hasn’t looked quite as bad on paper. However, they did allow 42 points in the first half against Texas A&M followed by 41 points to Texas Tech. It is clear that both opponents very much took their foot off of the grass. The Lions are a man-to-man under Coach Von Rosenberg, but they simply don’t have the size or athleticism to match up with high-major teams. There will be straight-line drives available from the perimeter and not much resistance at the rim. Look for them to extend some on-ball pressure beyond half-court to attempt to slow things down, but we should use it to speed things up. Drive by them and go score.

Keys to the Game

• Dominate the point of attack. Consistently get into the paint and play with confidence. Assist on 60%+ of made field goals while forcing a 20%+ turnover percentage.
• Play with confidence. Pressure the ball defensively. Let it fly offensively. Push it up the floor. Look for layups and open, rhythm 3s. Shoot 35%+ from 3.
• Dominate the glass. Defensive rebound 80%+ of the Texas A&M-Commerce misses.
• Shoot 75% or better from the free throw line.

Take advantage of the KSR+ TIPOFF SPECIAL to get bonus coverage of Kentucky Basketball, including live game threads, in-depth scouting reports, behind-the-scenes scoop, and the latest recruiting intel. 50% off the annual price or $1 for 1 month.