Texas Basketball: 5 thoughts after Las Vegas Invitational

2. Elijah Mitrou-Long largely disappointing

An intriguing option for Smart to add a nice scoring presence to the rotation came by way of the transfer market. Former Mount St. Mary’s standout guard Elijah Mitrou-Long made his way to the Forty Acres last off-season and looked to provide some energy off the bench to the offense. Mitrou-Long had a few good showings in the first three games, but flat lined since.

He ranks sixth on the team in points per game, at 7.2. His player efficiency rating puts him in the middle of the pack at 12.3. Between his scoring numbers for not starting this season, and his player efficiency rating, you could see some potential from Mitrou-Long off the bench. His recent performances spell a different story.

Mitrou-Long has some metrics that don’t line up for a player that has a positive presence for the offense. He has one of the highest usage rates on the team, and that’s even considering he’s coming off the bench. A usage rate well above 20 percent shouldn’t correlate with a player barely shooting better than 30 percent from the field and posting one of the lowest offensive ratings.

That doesn’t even take into account the defensive liability that he can turn into at times. He can also be good on defense, depending on the matchups. His steal percentage, defensive rebounding percentage, defensive win shares, and defensive box plus/minus all rank in the top four on the team. But, he also has the second lowest defensive rating on the team, next to only Andrew Jones.