Miami basketball plays their exhibition today and here is everything you need to know about the Saint Leo Lions:
Saint Leo Lion's Personnel
STARTERS (NOT OFFICIAL)
12 Brady Corso: 6’2” 185 lbs, Freshman Guard
6.0 ppg, 1.0 RPG
#23 Logan Ryan: 6’3” 185 lbs, Junior Guard
10.2 ppg, 2.6 RPG
View attachment 309325
#0 Owen Pawlikowski : 6’5” 210 lbs, Redshirt Sophomore Guard
7.4 ppg, 3.3 RPG, 2.2 APG
View attachment 309327
#1 Shunta Wilson: 6’6” 185 lbs, Senior Forward
10.1 ppg, 4.6 RPG, 1.0 APG
#2 Eric Jones: 6’6” 220 lbs, Graduate Student Forward
8.0 ppg, 5.9 RPG, 0.8 APG
The Lions returned six players from their 11-17 team last season. However, only one of their players was in their starting line last season. The offense of Saint Leo's will try to jack up a bunch of threes, as in the last game in their exhibition against Florida State, they shot over 36 threes from the field and only made just about 12 of those. Saint Leo does not have size at all, as you see in their starting line, their biggest player is 6-foot-6, so they play small ball more like the Hurricanes do.
They struggle under pressure; last week against Florida State, they had 14 turnovers, and against FAU, they had 18. Applying good pressure on their guards will force them to make mistakes.
Don't leave Logan Ryan open. Against Florida State, he was the leading scorer with 17 points, 15 of which came from behind the arc.
Let’s get into a breakdown of their offense:
— The Lions like to go four-out high sets a lot, but they also like The popular Euro ball screen continuity.
They're gonna set a lot of ball screens and space and shoot threes. Miami might disrupt them with their trapping defense and not relying on help
Miami should stay home on shooters, limit the catch and shoots, and make guys go one-on-one and have to finish.
— To me, it looks like out of secondary break action, they're going to go four-out-one in a lot and play through their bigs. So, four-out-one is in continuity with ball screens and space. The 5 for them is going to catch the high post, and the guys cut him off, and he is going to ball screen and roll or pop.
Here is a look at Saint Leo in transition. #2 Grant is aggressively looking for catch-and-shoot 3s in transition. However, he graduated, and I would expect that guy in transition to be Logan Ryan. We need to get matched up to him as soon as we protect the basket and stop the ball. No catch-and-shoot 3s for #23 Ryan.
Saint Leo Lions Defense
Last season, the Saint Leo Lions gave up an average of 84.4 points per game. Opponents averaged just shy of 37.1 rebounds as well. The Lions do not foul a lot, so surely we will see them go with a 2-3 zone set versus the Hurricanes on Wednesday. There will be opportunities to attack the gaps and kick out for three, but their tallest player in the starting rotation is 6-foot-6, so I would like to get it inside more. Look for any opportunities to push the pace in transition as well.
