Texas Tech basketball: 5 players to know from the West Region
Shamorie Ponds – St. John’s
In tonight’s first four game, Shamorie Ponds will look to lead St. John’s over Arizona State with the winner set to face Buffalo. In every year of the first four format, at least one of the first four teams has won a game in the round of 64 and if that happens in the West, either St. John’s or ASU will be a potential second-round opponent for Texas Tech.
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Ponds is a prolific scorer who averages 19.5 points per game to go along with 5.2 assists and 4.2 rebounds and 2.6 steals as well. He shoots 45.5% from the field and 35.5% from 3-point range.
The 6-foot-1 guard is the type of player that the Red Raider defense has struggled with at times this year. He can create off the dribble and break down opposing defenses to either get his shot in the lane or create a shot for a teammate.
Ponds can be too much of a ball-hog at times. Having never met a shot he didn’t think he could make, sometimes he can try to do more than the game asks for. The lefty is also extremely left-had oriented and as we saw with Texas guard Matt Coleman (who is also a lefty), Chris Beard will sell out to force a player to use his non-dominant hand if that player is too one-dimensional.
Defensively, he is an aggressive on-ball defender in the mold of Matt Mooney. He can be taken advantage of physically if caught in a mismatch against big guards but he could be tough for Mooney or Davide Moretti to shake.
Next. First look at Northern Kentucky. dark
If Tech and St. John’s meet on Sunday, it will be the second-straight year that a Red Raider has faced his former school with a Sweet 16 birth on the line. Last year, it was Brandone Francis squaring off with Florida and this year, it would be Tariq Owens going up against his old school. But the key matchup would be the Texas Tech defense against Shamorie Ponds who would likely meet Mr. Owens at the rim on a few occasions.