SMU erases 11-point halftime deficit, upsets No. 6 Houston 85-83 at home
SMU Basketball continued its perfect record at Moody Coliseum Wednesday night, defeating No. 6 Houston 85-83 in one of the crazier Mustang wins in recent memory to move to 17-5 overall and 8-2 in AAC play.
Despite trailing 51-40 at halftime, the Mustangs were able to stay in the game thanks to Kendric Davis‘ first half performance, scoring 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor. Freshman Stefan Todorovic also hit a pair of three pointers that kept the Cougars from pulling away.
Davis nailed a pair of free throws with 40.6 seconds left in regulation that looked to be the difference, until Emmanuel Bandoumel sent Kyler Edwards to the line for three shots with two seconds left. Edwards missed the first, made the second, then committed a lane violation to give the Mustangs the ball as SMU would run out the clock.
Weathers’ brothers key down the stretch
Michael Weathers had one of his best performances at SMU since transferring from Texas Southern, scoring 17 points to go along with three rebounds and four assists. Weathers, led all scorers in the second half with 14 and hit some clutch free throws towards the end of the game.
The Mustangs might’ve found their much needed second scorer in Marcus Weathers, who continued his hot streak tonight, scoring 20 points on 6-of-16 from the field. Weathers also had a big game on the defensive side of the ball, with seven rebounds, as SMU made the switch to the 1-3-1 zone during the second half.
Switch to 1-3-1 pays off for SMU
When asked about the defensive change after the game, SMU Basketball head coach Tim Jankovich said, “Part of it was because man-to-man wasn’t working either. How long are you going to watch something where you see the numbers and see that we aren’t getting any stops? It did give us a chance to get back into it. We have different zones and different adjustments and we settled on the one late, but we were just hoping that it would throw them out of their rhythm.”
Jankovich also spoke about where this Mustang instant classic ranks among games he’s coached in, “I think I have coached in over 1,000 games, way over a thousand games, and that was one of the great efforts I’ve ever been a part of.”
Quick turnaround for SMU Basketball now…
With a trip to East Carolina on Saturday, it’s a short turnaround for the Mustangs. The Pirates, who just beat Tulsa on the road, sit at 12-11 overall and 3-8 in AAC play.
Zach Nutall added 11 points for the Mustangs on 3-of-4 from beyond the arc while also grabbing two rebounds.
SMU was 21-of-27 from the free throw line for the night, which included a team-best 8-of-9 from Kendric Davis, who finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
SMU faces East Carolina at 5 p.m. CT in Williams Arena on Saturday, which will be broadcast on ESPNU. At 8-2 in league play, SMU is off to its best start in league play since 2016-17.
