SMU Game Breakdown

A late morning matchup on Saturday saw the SMU Mustangs travel to Boston College for their first road ACC game since joining from the American Athletic Conference this year.  The mustangs led by seven at the half, but Boston College would stay in contention led by Donald Hand Jr. who had a game high 22 points and Dion Brown who contributed 20 points to the effort.

With 11:43 remaining in the second half, SMU would begin a dominant 37-14 run to close out the contest which also saw SMU rattle off a 14-0 run in just three and a half minutes.  This mini run was highlighted by 6’10” Houston native Jerrell Colbert who had 10 of the Mustang’s 14 points in the run to go along with a couple blocks and a handful of offensive rebounds.

The end result, a 103-77 road win for the mustangs who shot 68.8% from three point range thanks to open shots provided by the dribble penetration by junior point guard Boopie Miller who finished the night with 7 assists.   Beverly, Massachusetts native Matt Cross led the way for the mustangs in his homecoming campaign with 20 points going a three for three from behind the arc with teammate Chuck Harris going four of five from three point range ending with 14 points off the bench.

SMU in ACC Play

This brings the mustangs to 2-0 in ACC play and adds to the momentum gained by wins over Virginia and LSU which forced this team to find new ways to win in each of these last three contests.  An adaptable team in the “Transfer Portal Era” is difficult to build because it undermines the camaraderie built slugging through season after season together but it appears to be what is happening with this SMU squad.  As a matter of fact, five SMU players are averaging double digits (not including Cross who averages 9.9pts) this season.  One of these players is 7’2″ freshman Samet Yigitoglu who played only 7 minutes of the contest with BC due to foul trouble.

First year coach Andy Enfield hinted at this adaptability after the LSU game on December 14th stating “Not everybody plays great every single game; that is why it is important to have a balanced team  that you can rely on certain guys on different nights”.  The ability to survive poor individual performances and win the game is an attribute of successful culture and coaching staff that motivates without denigrating players.

The Tobacco Road Two-Step

Looking ahead, the mustangs will be able to enjoy the Christmas holidays with their next contest next being on Sunday, December 29th at 1pm at Moody Coliseum against the Lancers of Longwood University (11-3). Six days later the Mustangs will host by far their biggest challenge of the season when they host the #5 Duke Blue Devils at SMU on January 4th after which they will complete the Tobacco Road Two-Step when they travel to Chapel Hill, NC just three days later to take on the struggling but dangerous North Carolina Tar Heels.

While it is hard to not look ahead to the star power of their upcoming ACC foes, SMU must stay focus on building confidence and cohesiveness in their “Re-conditioning” game against Longwood.  A hungry and talented mid-major team can swoop in and destroy the streak this SMU team is on if they aren’t staying in the training room getting healthy and on the court getting focused on the imposing wave of competition that awaits them in 2025.  Given Enfield’s coaching philosophy, I am sure he will find the way forward for this surprisingly loaded basketball team to continue to improve.

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