It's eight days before Christmas and all I can think about is college basketball. Let's get right into this week's edition of Ten Trends!
1. Kobe Johnson fuels UCLA's fortress defense
UCLA's defensive efficiency is up to fourth nationally on KenPom.com, but if you prefer the ancient "points per game" metric, UCLA is No. 1 in the country, allowing 55.0 ppg.
Whatever. You get the point. These Bruins can guard. They illustrated that on Saturday by holding Arizona to zero buckets in the final eight minutes and 43 seconds in UCLA's 57-54 victory vs. the Wildcats.
Ace defensive wing Kobe Johnson was in the middle of everything, per usual.
These three plays were phenomenal:
- Play No. 1: UCLA is switching Arizona's off-ball actions. Johnson wisely recognizes that Caleb Love is about to spring open. He nearly beats Love to the spot and almost high-fives him on the jumper. Picture-perfect contest and UCLA gets the stop.
- Play No. 2: This time, Love actually beats Johnson around the corner, but the UCLA long-armed wing pokes it away from behind with a nifty side-swipe. UCLA gets another stop.
- Play No. 3: UCLA is not matched up properly and Skyy Clark gets stuck on Trey Townsend. That's an advantage for Arizona. Johnson quickly surveys the scene and realizes the man he's guarding (KJ Lewis) is not a shooter so he blitzes Townsend and forces another game-changing turnover.
He's 25th nationally with a fantastic 5.1 steal percentage, but he toes the line perfectly of aggressive but not reckless defensively. Johnson looks every bit the part of a Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year frontrunner.
No. 18 UCLA (9-1) takes on Prairie View A&M on Tuesday ahead of Saturday's war against North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic (3 p.m. ET on CBS and streaming on CBSSports.com, CBS Sports App and Paramount+ with Showtime) at Madison Square Garden. Johnson's defense against UNC All-American RJ Davis or rising junior Seth Trimble will be cinema.
2. Inside Kentucky's blazing handoffs
The "Chicago" action is an offensive set that's code for a pindown into a dribble handoff. It's exploded in popularity in the NBA, and a ton of college teams use it, too.
It's a staple of Mark Pope's playbook, and No. 4 Kentucky has all the intricacies mastered. The Wildcats maximized their personnel with it. Pope does such a smart job of putting his players in positions to succeed and stress opposing defenses.
Kentucky scored 13 points directly using handoffs in Saturday's 93-85 win over rival Louisville. It was a ton of "Chicago" action.
Check out these three plays:
- Play No. 1: This is Chicago action at its finest. Jaxson Robinson sets a pindown screen to free up the dangerous Koby Brea who gets a handoff from Brandon Garrison. Louisville is switching the off-ball actions, but Chucky Hepburn is just a touch late, so Brea pops the trey. Splash.
- Play No. 2: Pope knows Louisville wants to switch those off-ball screens, so he dials up Chicago action again. This time with a twist. Brea just hit a 3-pointer off this action a few minutes earlier, and Louisville's Terrence Edwards Jr. knows it. So he stays a touch high on the switch, and Brea darts backdoor for a jam.
- Play No. 3: Louisville has clawed back into this one and needs a stop. Hepburn is a phenomenal defender and this time, he reads it right. He switches onto Jaxson Robinson and stays right on his hip to blow up the initial dribble handoff. But Kentucky has answers to the test. It's Lamont Butler's turn to come off the dribble handoff. He uses a V-cut to set up his defender well to gain a little separation, and then it's a grown-man, right-hand drive right to the cup. Butler needed to flex after that "get off me" drive.
Same "Chicago" action. Three different pressure points. Three distinct buckets.
But that was no anomaly. The 'Cats rank second nationally, averaging 8.0 points per game thanks to handoffs.
Here are the leaders in points per game off handoffs, via Synergy:
- Richmond: 8.7
- Kentucky: 8.0
- Arkansas-Little Rock: 8.0
- Chattanooga: 7.6
- UNC Asheville: 7.5
- Marquette: 7.0
Teams are smartly weaving more and more handoffs into their offensive sets because they put opposing defenses in so much conflict with much lower risk. The median turnover rate on handoffs last season was around 12% compared to 17.4% for ball-handlers in pick-and-rolls.
That's held true for Kentucky. The Wildcats have a manageable 10.4% turnover rate on its 67 handoff possessions this year. It's a low-risk, high-reward play for Pope.
Ohio State will have its hands full trying to stop it in Saturday's CBS Sports Classic (5:30 p.m. on CBS and streaming on CBSSports.com, CBS Sports App and Paramount+ with Showtime).
3. Mississippi State's Matthews an all-world defender
Mississippi State wing Cameron Matthews is the only player in the entire country with a block percentage over 3.0 and a steal percentage north of 6.0, per Bart Torvik.
The 6-foot-7 senior is a menace who can single-handedly blow up a game.
Just ask Pitt.
Mississippi State ran the Panthers out of the gym 90-57 on Dec. 4, and Matthews' fingerprints were all over it. He finished with nine points, 13 rebounds, four assists, four steals and one block.
Matthews is a terrifying on-ball defender, but he might be better off the ball. He douses so many fires for Chris Jans' club, and Matthews' rotations are on point. Throwing passes in Matthews' zip code is a horrific idea.
Mississippi State will look to improve to 10-1 on Tuesday against Central Michigan ahead of Saturday's monster road tilt against No. 21 Memphis (12:30 p.m. on CBS and streaming on CBSSports.com, CBS Sports App and Paramount+ with Showtime).
Get your popcorn out for Memphis' alpha-scorer PJ Haggerty versus Matthews.
4. Georgetown's Sorber shows promising post-ups
The best play for Georgetown's offense has been a Thomas Sorber touch on the block. The freshman big man ranks second among all Big East players in post-up points per game.
No. 1 on that list? Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner. The same man Sorber will square off against in Wednesday's Big East opener (6:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network and streaming on CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports App).
Here are the Big East's leaders in post-up points per game:
- Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton: 7.4
- Thomas Sorber, Georgetown: 4.3
- Eric Dixon, Villanova: 3.9
- Tarris Reed Jr., UConn: 3.6
- Zach Freemantle, Xavier: 2.8
Kalkbrenner topping the Big East charts is old news. He was No. 1 last year, No. 2 the year before and No. 3 the season prior to that, via Synergy. He's been there and done that.
Sorber is the newbie on the block who looks like he's here to stay. Sorber's efficiency on post-ups is impressive. He fights to keep his positioning in the paint and has plenty of soft touch both in his face-ups or with his baby hooks. But his decision-making might be even better.
Sorber has had 47 post-up possessions this season, including passes. He's turned it over just twice all season long. One was an ill-advised pass against Lehigh that he'd want back. The other was when he was whistled for a highly questionable offensive foul. That measly 4.3% turnover rate on post-ups is a wildly good start for the true freshman out of New Jersey.
The five college players Sorber's statistical profile on KenPom.com closely resembles are Bobby Portis (pro), Orlando Robinson (pro), Mike Muscala (pro), Isaiah Stewart (pro) and Thomas Bryant (pro).
Pretty, pretty good.
5. Houston's 2-point defense is on par with historic teams
Oh hey, No. 15 Houston is still really good at playing defense. Houston has the No. 1 defense in the country, holding opponents to a mere 39.8% field goal percentage on 2-pointers.
This is tracking to be some all-time stuff.
Here are the best 2-point defenses in the last 15 years. Some, uh, notable names on here anchored these incredible defenses:
- 2014-15 Texas: 37.7% (Myles Turner)
- 2017-18 Michigan State: 38.4% (Jaren Jackson Jr.)
- 2014-15 Kentucky: 39.1% (Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein)
- 2013-14 UC Irvine: 39.2%
- 2012-13 Kansas: 39.3% (Jeff Withey)
- 2011-12 Kentucky: 39.6% (Anthony Davis)
- 2024-25 Houston: 39.8%
- 2011-12 Kansas: 39.8% (Jeff Withey again)
- 2016-17 UCF: 39.9% (Tacko Fall!)
- 2016-17 Gonzaga: 40%
Toledo is next up for Houston's ferocious defense Wednesday before Sunday's in-state clash with Texas A&M Corpus Christi (2 p.m. on CBS CBS Sports Network and streaming on CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports App).
6. An Oregon State revival?
Don't look now, but Wayne Tinkle has something cooking in Corvallis. Oregon State knocked off previously unbeaten, mid-major powerhouse UC Irvine 67-55 on Saturday to improve to 7-2. Oregon State is up to No. 64 on KenPom. That's the highest the Beavers have been since it somehow advanced to the 2021 Sweet 16.
Oregon State was left for dead by the Pac-12.
Here are the former Pac-12 members it is outplaying right now: Colorado (No. 72), Stanford (No. 83), USC (No. 86), Washington (No. 102) and Cal (No. 122).
Oregon State is at the bottom of the barrel in NIL, but the Moneyball moves from Tinkle have worked. SIU Edwardsville transfer Damarco Minor had 19 points, nine rebounds and five assists against UC Irvine. Southern Utah transfer Parsa Fallah is averaging more than 12 points.
Gonzaga is the unquestioned cream of the crop in the West Coast Conference, but Oregon State, Saint Mary's, San Francisco, Washington State and Santa Clara are legit clubs that have quickly proven they're all capable of making noise.
7. The curious case of SMU
SMU was picked 13th in the preseason ACC poll but early indications imply that was way, way off. SMU opened at No. 75 in KenPom's preseason projections, but after wins against Washington State, Virginia and LSU, the 9-2 Mustangs are up to No. 51. That's No. 5 among all ACC teams on KenPom.com.
Rim dominance is at the epicenter of all of it. SMU's offense is up to 29.4 attempts at the rim. That ranks 20th-best in college basketball. SMU's defense allows just 18.6 shots at the rim. That's 27th-best in the country, tied with excellent defenses like Tennessee and Seton Hall.
Add Turkish product Samet Yigotoglu to the list of international products that have been way ahead of schedule in college basketball. The 7-1 big man has slotted next to UMass stud transfer Matt Cross and has been more than serviceable, averaging 11.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 24 minutes. SMU also starts a third frontcourt piece, UC Santa Barbara transfer Yohan Traore, but that trio basically begins each half, plays until the first media timeout and never plays together again.
Enfield's strategy of abusing teams at the rim on both ends is smart and should be sustainable in an ACC that features numerous feeble frontcourts.
But some curious things on SMU's tape could limit this group's ceiling. Point guard Boopie Miller has been terrific this season, but there are still some questions after he went MIA in ACC play last year at Wake Forest. Miller was outstanding against lower competition and struggled against the good teams. Can he buck that trend? SMU also does not take many treys, but it is draining plenty of them. Kario Oquendo, a career sub-30% 3-point shooter, is scorching hot right now, hitting at a 50% clip on his 40 attempts. Will that stick?
We'll learn just how serious SMU is right away. The Mustangs travel to Boston College on Saturday for their second ACC tilt of the season. Two weeks later, SMU gets its true welcome-to-the-ACC moment with back-to-back games against Duke (at home) and a road date with North Carolina. Split those and SMU might be serious about competing in an ACC that's just begging for a team to join Duke and Clemson at the top of the food chain.
8. Killshot chatter
There are just five teams who have not allowed a killshot (at least a 10-0 run) so far this season, per Evan Miya.com.
Conversely, here are the six teams with 14 or more killshots:
- Texas (15)
- Maryland (14)
- SMU (14)
- Texas A&M (14)
- UCLA (14)
- Iowa State (14)
9. Bittle's time is now for soaring Oregon
The preseason buzz surrounding Oregon was based on the return of sophomores Jackson Shelstad and Kwame "KJ" Evans Jr. combined with an intriguing portal class, headlined by VIllanova's TJ Bamba and Stanford's Brandon Angel.
But Oregon is off to a 10-1 start thanks to Nate Bittle. The oft-injured, 7-footer has quickly become one of the best big men in a Big Ten jam-packed with stud centers. Bittle is averaging 14.3 points, 8.5 boards and 2.0 assists and anchoring everything Oregon wants to do on both ends.
Oregon ranks in the 94th percentile in post-up usage so far this year. Bittle is an excellent post-up threat, but he's a legitimate floor-stretcher, so the Ducks can mismatch hunt on the low block with a burly forward like Angel who doesn't have to worry about a shot-blocker because Bittle is dragging 'em away from the rim.
Oregon's defense is also way, way better with Bittle on the floor. So far, opponents get to the rim way more and shoot a whopping 62% when Bittle is on the bench. When he's in the game, Oregon's rim defense transforms into a massive strength. Oregon allows far fewer shots at the rim when Bittle is looming around the paint, and he's up to a whopping 8.4 block percentage. Teams shoot just 45% at the rim against the Ducks when Bittle is in the game, per Hoop-explorer.com.
Bittle is the Ducks' MVP through the first six weeks.
10. North Dakota's Eaglestaff has a silky jumper
Alabama coach Nate Oats said his team is searching to find their winter coats ahead of Wednesday's frigid road tilt against North Dakota (9 p.m. on CBS CBS Sports Network and streaming on CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports App), but they also better find North Dakota wing Treysen Eaglestaff at all times.
The 6-6 junior has been one of the top mid-major scorers in the country, and he's shooting 38% from 3-point range this season.
How he's doing it is even more fascinating.
Off-the-dribble 3-pointers are supposed to be hard, but Eaglestaff makes it look easy. Green Bay's Anthony Roy is the only Division I player who has made more off-the-dribble treys than Eaglestaff (20). The North Dakota stud is shooting a whopping 46% on his 43 off-the-dribble 3-pointers this season.
That's big-time stuff, and pro scouts already have him on their radars. Blitzing 'Bama could elevate Eaglestaff's profile even more.