SMU improved to 2-0 for the second consecutive season with its 89-52 romp over Rhode Island, avenging a 72-50 loss last season, Monday night at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas.
Point guard Nic Moore, who sat out last season after transferring from Illinois State University, scored 20 points, 12 of which came from behind the arc and added seven assists on the night.
“It really wasn’t me. It was my teammates making it easy, Yanick [Moreira] being big, everybody running the floor and just doing what we do best,” Moore said.
SMU built a 13-point lead at the half after a 13-4 run in the final 4:37 of the first half and led by 35 points with four minutes to go in the game.
The big story of the weekend was junior Jalen Jones not playing against Texas Christian University after leading SMU in rebounding and scoring last year. SMU confirmed that the 6-7 guard would transfer after wanting to start at small forward and play 35 minutes a game, something Head Coach Larry Brown could not promise him.
The Mustangs didn’t look fazed by Jones’ departure with first-year Ben Moore stepping up in his place off the bench, scoring 13 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
The entire SMU bench contributed to the victory to the tune of 42 points, the most since SMU topped Dallas Christian College on Dec. 22, 2011. Brown said after the game that he has 11 players that he thinks can contribute so expect the bench scoring to continue until the rotation can be firmed up for the rest of the year.
“I’m a little nervous. I find myself struggling to figure out who to play and I don’t think when you get down to the guts of this season against all the better teams, you can play 11 or 12 guys,” Brown said. “Unfortunately, everyone wants to play, but that’s going to be the biggest challenge.”
SMU’s defense continued to be solid, holding the Rams to just 2-for-25 on 3-pointers and through the first two games, SMU has held opponents to just 32.7 percent shooting.
One negative from the game was SMU’s free throw shooting, SMU shot 45.8 percent from the line, while the Rams shot over 66 percent.
SMU did shoot over 55 percent from the field though in an impressive effort in front of the 3,239 fans in attendance. The team did a great job of setting each other up for good looks, racking up 21 assists on the night as a team.
SMU has a week off before heading to Arkansas to face the Razorbacks Nov. 28.
Quick Hit: SMU commit and consensus five-star point guard Emmanuel Mudiay will sign today around 1 p.m. at Prime Prep, making it official that the heralded recruit will be a Mustang in the fall of 2014.
