By PAUL GOTHAM
Right on time. That might be the best way to describe Scoochie Smith, the point guard of the No. 17/19 University of Dayton Flyers.
Tuesday night, Scoochie drilled the go-ahead 3-pointer as the Flyers erased a double-digit deficit in the game’s final minutes for their eighth straight win.
The shot was his first make of the night from long range. Delivering when his team needs him most has not gone overlooked by UD head coach Archie Miller.
“He’s probably our most valuable guy,” Miller said during the weekly Atlantic 10 tele-conference. “He’s definitely a guy that we can’t afford to not have on the floor for long stretches.”
Understanding Scocchie’s value, though, can be tricky.
Sure he leads the Flyers with 4.3 assists a game as he also does with an assist rate of 26.71 . His assist to turnover rate of 2.6:1 paces UD as well.
But by KenPom numbers, Scoochie is a “role player” because he is used on 16-20 percent of Dayton’s possessions. Somewhere, someone is echoing the wisdom of Mark Twain: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.”
“I do think he gets overlooked a little bit just because we have a lot of guys,” Miller noted. “At times he’s not looking for his own shot as much as he is trying to do what I’m asking him to do. He’s a little bit unselfish and too unselfish in that regard.”
With that comes the ability to pick his spots to step up and perform.
“He understands what we want to do from an offensive and defensive standpoint,” Miller added. “He’s become sort of an iron man for us the last two years. He plays an abnormal amount of minutes. He does a lot of different things as a point guard whether that be distributing, rebounding or shooting.”
Dave Paulsen and George Mason got an up close view when Scoochie scored 10 points, handed out five assists and grabbed eight rebounds in 25 minutes when UD won by 34 over the Patriots last weekend.
“He is incredibly fast with the ball,” Paulsen said. “We knew they pushed the ball in transition. They played faster against us in transition than I’ve seen them on film. He’s the guy. They take it out on makes, and he just rammed the ball right down our throat. He’s just a really versatile, dynamic guard who kinda makes them go.”
The Flyers travel to Rhode Island to take on the Rams Friday night. The game will be televised on ESPN2. Dayton beat Rhode Island in the semi-finals of last year’s Atlantic 10 tournament.
“He’s always at his best when the lights are the brightest especially when things start to get heated up here in February,” Miller said. “We’re looking forward to him sort of turning on the after burners here a little bit as we need him.”
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