SMU’s men’s basketball team improved to 7-2 on the season with their 88-59 demolition of 2-6 McNeese State University Monday night at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas.

The team continued its dominance in the paint, outscoring McNeese State 34-14, outrebounding them 42-25. SMU has now outrebounded their opposition in eight of its nine games so far.

That type of dominance put SMU second in The American Athletic Conference in rebounding margin at +8.9 per game and leaves them at 25th in the nation.

Nic Moore continued to be dominant for the Mustangs, going a perfect five-for-five from beyond the arc, finishing with 15 points. What Head Coach Larry Brown noted in his press conference as more impressive was Moore’s ability to defend in the game.

SMU held its seventh opponent of the season to under 40 percent from the field and that was an accomplishment since the McNeese Cowboys were averaging 23 three-point attempts coming into the game, but finished just 10-for-34 from three-point land.

With 13 different Mustangs scoring Monday, it helped SMU improve to 5-0 at the Curtis Culwell Center on the year.

The Cowboys were led by Ledrick Eackles, who scored 21 points.

SMU now heads up to Chicago to face the University of Illinois at Chicago at 7 p.m. tonight in what should be a nice homecoming for SMU players Nic Moore, Crandall Head, Ben Moore and Sterling Brown.

Nic Moore has been stellar at point guard for SMU this season and Ben Moore and Brown have been nice surprises coming off the bench for the Mustangs while Head has played limited minutes thus far this season.