Syracuse and Oregon faced off last weekend in Sioux Falls, proposing a fun matchup of under the radar prospects, including Kwame Evans, Jackson Shelstad, Judah Mintz, and a few other fringe prospects.
Judah Mintz finished with 18 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, and 6 turnovers on 5-11 shooting. Kwame Evans finished with 17 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals, and 5 turnovers on 6-11 shooting. Jackson Shelstad had 16 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 4 turnovers on 6-16 shooting. Let’s dive in to what made each of these performances notable:
Kwame Evans
- Really struggles with his right hand
- Sees the floor well and executes simple reads consistently and flawlessly
- Good motor. Had a nice right handed putback against a blind Syracuse rebounder
- Too simple and loose of a handle. Can dribble into turnovers in transition
- A bit stiff at times defensively in recovery (8:53 1H against made stepback 3)
- Strong feel for the game. Knows his strengths and weaknesses and plays generally within them
- Shot looks extremely labored and somewhat uncomfortable, like he’s going off a script instead of muscle memory
- Rarely gambles defensively, for better or for worse. Plays passing lanes well without going for all-or-nothing plays. Stays on his feet and keeps his hands high first before thinking about jumping. This was generally successful for the game.
- Has had the ball poked out of his hands from the triple threat multiple times
Jackson Shelstad:
- Clean jumper form at the top, but shot can come out a bit flat and be a line-drive
- Right leg is a massive crutch, so much that it almost negatively impacts how quickly he can get power into his shot. Bends way too much in coming from the outside.
- Separation ability on drives looks mild at best
- Has had several avoidable turnovers in transition trying to make bad dribbles through defenders.
- Got shaken off his spot very easily multiple times against drives
Jermaine Cousinard: 11:15 1H awful decision to keep the ball, gets blocked. Next possession on D he leaves his man to over help the 3, gives up the made 3 to the guy he left. Next play, he keeps it too long again and passes it right into the defense. 4:06 he threw a bullet pass to a teammate within 10 feet of him, resulting in a near turnover. 10:48 2H did a pass fake to the covered man while being wide open, allowing for a contest on his jumper, which missed.
JJ Starling
- Awful shot form. Right leg is still moving while he’s loading, and upper release isn’t fluid.
- Quick getting to the rim. He had a good game because of his quick first step.
Judah Mintz
- 1:58 1H misses a cutter, half a second late and changes the projected pass style from bullet to high arcing, resulting in a TO
- Does a good job of throwing himself into defenders to draw fouls at the rim
- Great at finding lobs. Goes for flashy passes instead of simple ones too often, giving him some high risk/high reward to his playmaking. Ultimately, he will have to brush up turnovers to give NBA scouts hope on that improving at the next level.
- The Syracuse zone was not why Judah Mintz had great steal numbers last year, given that he is nearing a whole percentage point higher than last season. His upside as a defender and defensive playmaker seems strong.
Quadir Copeland looked great at the rim. Finished it off with a nice spin drive. Had 15-9-5-1-1 on 5/8 shooting. Needs more guard skills and shooting, otherwise he becomes a prospect.
