Sam Merrill vs top defenses
Sam Merrill has averaged 14.9 points and 2.4 rebounds per game in 8 games against top-5 defenses, vs 11.2 points and 2.8 rebounds in 39 games against everyone else (2025-26 to 2026-27, regular season).
- Vs top-5 defenses
- 14.9
- points per game · 8 games
- Vs everyone else
- 11.2
- points per game · 39 games
- Difference
- +3.7
- per game, top 5 minus everyone else
Career and by season
| Period | Opponents | Games | PTS | REB | AST | 3PM | STL | BLK | MIN | FG% | FT% | TS% | eFG% | PTS diff vs others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Career | Top 5 | 8 | 14.9 | 2.4 | 2.1 | 3.9 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 28.6 | 45.7% | 100.0% | 68.3% | 64.8% | +3.7 |
| Everyone else | 39 | 11.2 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 25.7 | 45.2% | 79.6% | 61.3% | 59.4% | ||
| 2026-27 | Top 5 | 1 | 8.0 | 3.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 26.1 | 25.0% | 100.0% | 45.0% | 37.5% | −0.5 |
| Everyone else | 6 | 8.5 | 3.0 | 2.3 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 23.7 | 43.6% | 87.5% | 60.0% | 56.4% | ||
| 2025-26 | Top 5 | 7 | 15.9 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 4.1 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 29.0 | 47.9% | 100.0% | 70.9% | 67.8% | +4.2 |
| Everyone else | 33 | 11.7 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 26.1 | 45.4% | 78.0% | 61.5% | 59.8% |
Every game against top-5 defenses
- Nov 2, 2026vs OKC · No. 1 defense (prior season's final)8 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast · 2 3PM · 1 stl, 0 blk · 26 min
- Mar 8, 2026vs BOS · No. 4 defense (that season, games so far)5 pts, 5 reb, 4 ast · 1 3PM · 1 stl, 0 blk · 29 min
- Mar 3, 2026vs DET · No. 2 defense (that season, games so far)9 pts, 0 reb, 2 ast · 3 3PM · 1 stl, 0 blk · 27 min
- Feb 27, 2026at DET · No. 2 defense (that season, games so far)20 pts, 1 reb, 3 ast · 4 3PM · 2 stl, 0 blk · 36 min
- Feb 22, 2026at OKC · No. 1 defense (that season, games so far)20 pts, 3 reb, 0 ast · 6 3PM · 0 stl, 0 blk · 28 min
- Jan 10, 2026vs MIN · No. 5 defense (that season, games so far)20 pts, 2 reb, 1 ast · 5 3PM · 3 stl, 0 blk · 25 min
- Jan 8, 2026at MIN · No. 4 defense (that season, games so far)22 pts, 2 reb, 3 ast · 5 3PM · 1 stl, 0 blk · 31 min
- Jan 4, 2026vs DET · No. 2 defense (that season, games so far)15 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast · 5 3PM · 1 stl, 0 blk · 27 min
What counts: a team's defensive rating is 100 × the points its opponents scored ÷ possessions, with possessions = FGA + 0.44*FTA - OREB + TOV, mean of both teams. A game's rank uses only games played before that date. Until every team has 15 games, the prior season's final ranks are used (7 games here, 40 games ranked on that season's games so far). Games are regular season; games he did not play are not counted. 12 games where the opponent's rank could not be determined are left out of both columns. TS% = PTS ÷ (2 × (FGA + 0.44 × FTA)); eFG% = (FGM + 0.5 × 3PM) ÷ FGA; both from totals for each row. Past results, not a projection.