FILM ROOM: Me'Arah O'Neal is a prime example of an elite stretch four

We wrap up this year’s KSR Film Room series by finally breaking down some tape of Kentucky forward Me’Arah O’Neal. You can catch up on the previous editions of this series below, which cover Ajša Sivka, Ayanna Patterson and Diana Collins.

The 6-foot-4 junior averaged 13.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.4 blocks and 1.4 steals per game at Florida last season, and unlike her dad, she can stretch out the defense and make teams pay if they don’t respect her offensive game. O’Neal shot 52.9% from the field overall a year ago while hitting 38.1% of her three-point attempts. She would have been the best shooter on Kentucky’s team last year percentage-wise.

O’Neal is a tremendously gifted player, but why should we tell you when her film can do so?

Scoring ability both inside and outside

The most intriguing and exciting part about O’Neal’s game is her ability to shoot the three. While she isn’t chucking up five threes per outing, she clearly shoots at an efficient enough rate to consider that a real strength of her game.

O’Neal creates a dynamic offensively where she can really be anywhere on the floor and it makes sense. Much like Clara Strack, Kenny Brooks doesn’t have to stick O’Neal on the block and hope she makes it work. She can actually be pretty lethal from the perimeter if left open. Even if a defender starts to close in on her, she can still rise above the contest and drain the three ball.

However, she’s not just a really tall big who can make threes. After all, being her height, she needs to be able to battle through contact down low and create scoring opportunities, even if it gets ugly in the post. Fortunately, O’Neal can do just that. While she’s maybe not as sure-footed as you’d like her to be, she can hang with some of the country’s most imposing bigs down low.

Using her length to block and contest

Continuing on her height and overall physical frame, O’Neal can be quite the headache on defense. Her perimeter defense isn’t necessarily the best, but it’s not awful either. However, O’Neal is a pretty serviceable defender in the paint, and on top of that, she can exploit weak or bad passes by getting a steal.

Her best trait defensively is her ability to protect the rim. A lot of guards, especially in the SEC, seem to want to get downhill and potentially get to the free throw line. O’Neal fulfills her role defensively to near perfection by being patient and contesting shots when the offense tries to go at her.

It’ll be interesting to see how much growth O’Neal will experience under Brooks and the Kentucky staff, but the qualities she already possesses should make her an impact player right away.

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