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Star Kendric Davis out for SMU vs. Temple with injury

On3 imageby: Billy Embody02/16/22BillyEmbody
On3 image
SMU point guard Kendric Davis dribbles. (Matt Visinsky - On3)

SMU point guard Kendric Davis is out for Wednesday night’s matchup against Temple with an injury, sources told On The Pony Express. The star guard was injured in Saturday’s win over East Carolina, the second straight victory for the Mustangs.

On Monday’s radio show, SMU head coach Tim Jankovich was optimistic that Davis could play. He left the game with an injury before returning to help the Mustangs to a win.

“We’ll see. Don’t know exactly,” Jankovich said on his weekly radio show on Monday. “I’ll be cautiously optimistic, but not overly optimistic. Hopefully, he can recover from that as quickly as possible.”

Kendric Davis is leading the AAC in scoring (19.1, 41st NCAA) and free-throw percentage (87.3%, 35th NCAA). He is in the top five in the league in field-goal percentage (44.3%, 3rd AAC) and assists (4.8, 3rd AAC, 50th NCAA). Davis is also ranked in the league for assist-to-turnover ratio (1.8, 7th AAC), 3FGs made (2.3, 7th AAC) and steals (1.4, 13th AAC).

Kendric Davis-less SMU team faces tough test

Temple gave SMU Basketball everything it could handle in the first meeting. In the first meeting this season with Kendric Davis, SMU used a late 13-0 run to overtake Temple in posting a 69-61 win in Dallas. As their season has gone on, the Owls have improved and are a team SMU can’t look past.

“Temple has to be one of the real surprise teams in our league this year, they were picked low, they started the season slowly,” Jankovich said. “You thought that’s their plight and wow, have they come on. They were really a tough out for us. I left Moody that night thinking about Wednesday night to come thinking that’s going to be one hard game.

“Outstanding defensive team. They’re holding their opponent to 39 percent overall and 29 percent from three. So impressed with their defense, especially. We’ve got a real challenge without question Wednesday night.”

Temple (13-9, 6-5 AAC) will look to snap a two-game losing streak when the Owls host SMU (18-5, 9-2 AAC) Wednesday night (9 pm/ESPNU/1210 AM WPHT) at the Liacouras Center.

SMU has won two straight, including ending #6 Houston’s 12-game win streak, 85-83, on Feb. 9. Kendric Davis had a huge performance in that victory. The Mustangs are now tied atop the conference standings with the Cougars while the Owls are tied for fifth with Cincinnati.

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