Extra Thought

One possibility re: Mercer is conditioning.

In the last ten conference games, Mercer has hit 34 of 115 3-pointers in the second half and overtime, less than 30%. For one thing, that's way too many to be trying when you're only 33% from behind the arc under the best of circumstances. The other telling stat, though, is 2-point defense. Mercer's conference opponents become more likely to hit a 2-point shot as the game wears on. Both of these factors indicate a team whose legs are falling out from under them.

With Kennesaw and ETSU, Mercer plays the fastest pace in the conference. We could be seeing them simply running out of gas.

Their style worked great for one game against USC in November. But night in and night out, they just don't have the horses to sustain it.