Coach Mo Williams and his Jackson State Tigers (1-7) make their annual trip to the Fertitta Center Wednesday night to face the #7 Houston Cougars (8-1). The Tigers have already played at Illinois, Louisville, Auburn, and Arkansas, giving them the third-most difficult schedule in college hoops per ESPN. They lost their only home game to Winthrop, but unfortunately, their only victory came against Coach Quannas White and his Louisiana squad.
The Tigers return former McDonald’s All-American and Ole Miss transfer DaeShun Ruffin. Ruffin missed the prior two trips to Houston due to injury. He’s my head of the snake: an undersized guard who is not afraid to get in with the trees to score. Houston has struggled at times with guards who can score in the paint. Jayme Mitchell spells his name correctly and can also shoot from outside or score in the paint.
The one thing I have noticed over the past three years is that there is NO WAY of knowing who Mo Williams will put on the court. He is a threat to change up his starting lineup or to leave a key guy at home. For the personnel report, I listed the guys I expect to play, but you never know. This one should not be a big challenge for the Coogs. JSU has some good pieces, but overall can’t match Houston’s intensity and athleticism.
Jackson State Offense Notes
- Nearly two-thirds of their points come from their three starting guards. Ruffin wants to get it in the paint and make a play. They probably won’t use many ball-screens for him to prevent the Houston BLITZ. I think they’ll try to isolate him to get past his man and score in the paint or kick it out to Mitchell or McMillian for an outside shot.
Tigers Defense Notes
- JSU primarily plays half-court, man-to-man defense.
- The Tigers will likely sprinkle in some 2-3 zone and a match-up zone where they will guard a guy in their area, but won’t chase him to the other side of the court.
- They run two different styles of full-court press. They run the same face-guard press that Auburn runs, where they want to make it difficult to get the ball inbounds. The difference between them and Auburn is that JSU will try to trap in that press. They will also run a 2-2-1 zone press, which they typically do not trap out of, but use it to take a little time off the shot clock.
JSU Cheat Sheet
Jackson State Personnel
(*Indicates likely starters…But also…there’s no telling with them)
*#24 – Daeshun Ruffin – 5’10” – SR – Guard – (Ole Miss) – 15ppg, 2rpg, 3apg.
- Former McDonald’s All-American;
- Small/explosive score first point guard;
- Makes very tough contested shots in the paint and at the rim;
- They will use ball-screens for him, but he will likely just clear everyone out and look to isolate, to avoid the BLITZ;
- Doesn’t let his size prevent him from getting in the paint and scoring at the rim or drawing a foul; (32-39, 81% FT);
- Nice mid-range jumper. Not a great outside shooter (6-29, 21%).
*#3 – Jayme Mitchell Jr. – 6’5 – RS JR – Guard/ Forward – (Alabama State) – 14ppg, 4rpg.
- Spells his first name “the correct way”;
- Big guard. Former Head of the Snake;
- Really good three-point shooter (17-39, 44%);
- Really good in the corner;
- Has developed a nice little mid-range fadeaway jumper.
*#1 – Dorian McMillian – 6’3″ – SO – Guard – 11ppg, 3rpg, 2apg.
- Athletic guard with a long wing-span;
- Not a great outside shooter; Kind of slow release, which allows the defense to contest his outside shot; (13-51, 26%); Capable from deep when wide open;
- Loves to take long two-point shots outside the lane; To me…it’s the worst shot in basketball, but he makes a living shooting what I call “the ol’ 2.5 point jumper”.
*#4 – Devin Ree – 6’9″ – SR – Forward – (Louisiana Tech) – 6ppg, 2rpg.
- Extremely long/skinny forward; Plays outside and off the bounce. Too thin to play in the post;
- Capable but not consistent three-point shooter; (8-30 27%);
- Likes the dribble, pull-up jumper.
*#8 – Dionjahe Thomas – 6’8″ – RS JR – Forward – (McNeese State, Southern) – 2ppg, 3rpg.
- Nicknamed “DT” because his name is very hard to pronounce;
- Has only played one game and started in it last week vs. Kennesaw State;
- Played at the same high school as incoming UH freshman superstar football player Keisean Henderson.
#0 – Tamarion Hoover – 6’4″ – SO – Guard/ Forward – 8ppg, 3rpg.
- Tall shooting guard. Quick release on his shot;
- 19 of his 24 shot attempts have been from beyond the arc. He shoots a great percentage and should probably shoot more for them (9-19,47%);
- Will kick his leg out on his shot to draw a foul (should be an offensive foul).
#11 – Mike Wiliams – 6’2″ – FR – Guard – 6ppg, 3rpg.
- Coach Mo Williams’ son. Back up point guard;
- Not a very good shooter from anywhere (8-33, 24% FG);
- Does a good job of driving to get fouled and makes his free throws (12-14, 86% FT).
#10 – Ebo Wilson – 6’10” – SO – Center – 1ppg, 3rpg.
- Huge post player;
- Could very well start, but doesn’t do much more than take up space.
#5 – Keiveon Hunt – 6’0″ – SR – Guard – 0ppg, 0rpg.
- Has not played yet this year; Don’t think he will Wednesday;
- Really good player, but appears to have injured his knee in March.
What I’ll Be Watching…Jojo Tugler addition…
- Can JoJo stay on the court? He has got to figure it out in these next four games, before the Big 12 games begin. He has to understand my dad’s (Coach Richard Hollingsworth) favorite saying: “You can get a bucket back…you can’t get a foul back.” The Coogs NEED him on the court in close games late.
- JoJo scoring game? I’d look for the Coogs to play through him Wednesday night IF he can stay on the court. Jackson State has zero good big defenders. I’d go play through him early and often and try to help him continue getting comfortable.
- Hold them under 40? The Coogs held JSU to 40 points last season (97-40). Can they do it again? JoJo could be a key to that, as they want to score in the paint. He could have a one-man block party.
