A postseason ban. A coach’s suspension. Player injuries and suspensions. Mid-year attrition. Another player’s abrupt departure. Those are the roadblocks SMU has encountered this season, all of them occurring in a span of just over three months. It’s as much adversity as any college basketball team has faced all year. But through all of it, SMU sits at 14-0 on the season and one of only two undefeated teams left in the country. If the adversity was a test from the college basketball gods, SMU aced it.
When presented with a seven-point deficit with 3:40 left, teams have to focus and fight off thoughts like “we’re finished” or “we’re not coming back from this one.” SMU found itself in that exact spot in Thursday night’s game vs. Cincinnati, losing 55-48.
Despite being within striking distance, the team had played one of its worst games of the year for the first 36:20 of the game. SMU had 17 turnovers, shot 50 percent (9-for-18) from the foul line and made only three of 13 three-point attempts to that point. If that wasn’t enough, SMU was playing with seven scholarship players after Keith Frazier’s situation earlier in the week. It went down to six after Sterling Brown and his majestic haircut were ejected for leaving the bench during a skirmish between the two teams with just over seven minutes left in the first half.
Winning with seven scholarship players is difficult. Losing one of the seven during a game is even harder. Seeing a team down to six scholarship players is a rarity. To add to the improbability of a win, a deeper SMU lost to Cincinnati twice last season. But SMU is too battle-tested to pack it in.
“It just shows the character and the fight in everybody we have, when you can win with six,” point guard Nic Moore said after the game, with all seven of SMU’s scholarship players surrounding him in the interview room. “We’ve got a motto: Next man up.”
Freshmen Jarrey Foster and Shake Milton have played a lot of minutes already this year and shown their poise, maturity, and of course skill. They were ready for the challenge of being that “next man up” to fill in for Brown on the wing. Ben Moore, who usually plays at the four spot, shifted down to help. He hadn’t played much on the wing during his two-and-a-half-year SMU career.
“Jarrey comes in and hit a huge three with 2:30, 2:40 left on the clock (in the first half), and the plays that Shake always makes are unbelievable,” forward Markus Kennedy said. “Ben Moore has been our best player this year, in my opinion.”
Given the “next man up” attitude and the laundry list of adversity SMU has overcome, the events of the final 3:40 shouldn’t come as a surprise. SMU shrunk the deficit to two points, and Nic Moore took a dribble handoff from Kennedy as he set a screen, giving Moore space to fire away from the corner for the potential go-ahead three. He drilled it, giving SMU a 56-55 lead and sending the Moody Coliseum crowd into a frenzy. The Bearcats didn’t even grab a rebound during SMU’s two and a half minute 8-0 run, but they would retake the lead on two Octavius Ellis free throws with 53 seconds left.
The final moments belonged to Jordan Tolbert. He tipped in a missed jumper to give SMU the lead back with 32 seconds left, 58-57. Cincinnati put the ball and the chance to win the game in the hands of point guard Troy Caupain, and he appeared to beat Milton for a layup. What Caupain didn’t see was Tolbert, lurking a few feet away at the opposite edge of the restricted arc. He took one step, leapt and swatted away Caupain’s shot. Nic Moore grabbed the blocked shot with 15 seconds left. After a Ben Moore free throw, Farad Cobb missed the last-ditch three-point attempt. SMU had pulled it out.
“I knew that I had to keep playing down to the wire,” Tolbert said. “I looked in my teammates eyes and I knew nobody would let up. I knew I couldn’t up.”
Overcoming adversity is a phrase used a lot when talking or writing about sports, perhaps a little too much. But with SMU, it couldn’t be more accurate, and SMU is very good at it. So good to the point where SMU didn’t seem bothered that it was down by seven at the final TV timeout.
“Winning time,” Kennedy said, when asked what the team said during the timeout. “That’s it. Nothing else matters.”
Most of the people watching on TV around the nation, a lot of the fans and even media doubted that SMU could come back. One man knew SMU had it: Head Coach Larry Brown.
“Outcomes aren’t the important thing, but how they persevere is incredible,” Brown said. “They just care for each other.”
Players often talk about a family atmosphere their team has. It’s a common and sometimes cliché theme that fans sometimes question its legitimacy on certain teams. But not with SMU. For SMU, a family atmosphere is not just something that exists on a good team, with players who grow close while winning. It’s more unique, more powerful than most teams who claim to have it. It’s the way of life for SMU, even before this year full of adversity.
SMU’s slogan is “F.O.E”, which stands for “Family Over Everything.” Looking at the obstacles SMU has overcome and after a win like Thursday’s, seeing the sincerity of their family atmosphere is easy. It really feels like no matter how tough the situation, SMU isn’t going to be rattled, because family comes first. Winning with family comes first. This is a team that won’t let itself be identified by its NCAA troubles, but rather its family bond that pushes it to win and to keep beating odds.
Still perfect! No. 15 SMU hits a late bucket to beat Cincinnati, 59-57, and remain 1 of the last 2 unbeatens in CBB. pic.twitter.com/r0JSTGjzwD
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 8, 2016
