A season high 5,170 fans were in attendance for Wednesday’s game versus Memphis. (Christopher Saul / The Daily Campus)

Even with a season high of 5,170 fans rocking Moody Coliseum, the Mustangs to Memphis 60-52 on Wednesday night.
This was their first home loss to Memphis since 2009.

“They were great. They can guard. They’re athletic and they make it tough for you to score, but at the end of the day, if you were to tell me that we were going to hold them to 30 percent, 29 percent shooting, you told me we were only going to turn the ball over 11 times, then I would say we were going to have a hell of a chance to win,” SMU head coach Larry Brown said.

Memphis jumped out to a seven point lead in the first five minutes of the game, but the Mustangs battled on multiple occasions in the first half to keep it close. Once the second half started, the Mustangs couldn’t keep that going.

“I’ve got some guys out there that are so tired. We’re trying to give them 30 second breaks. We’re getting a little better there,” Brown said.

SMU was down by 12 five minutes into the second half and after that the Mustangs kept battling especially in the paint, where the Mustangs scored 26 points and had 15 second chance points.

The Mustangs were lead once again by Jalen Jones, who had 15 rebounds and 13 points. Jones had his seventh double-double on the season.

The Mustangs were able to stick with a tough Memphis team that was undefeated in conference play coming into the game against SMU. The loss dropped SMU’s all-time record vs. Memphis to 3-11.

The Mustangs were outmatched with Memphis able to use their bench effectively even after Shaq Goodwin was ejected after a flagrant foul on Jones in the second half. The Mustangs did hold Memphis’ bench to six points compared to the Mustangs’ one point, but Memphis was fresh throughout the game with energized players that were able to close down SMU’s attempts to get back into the game.

SMU’s shooting in the end was terrible. The Mustangs shot 31 percent from the field, but made just one of 12 three-point attempts on the night. The quality of shots the Mustangs took was not great with Memphis playing tight defense, but SMU point guard Nick Russell took a career high 26 shots.

The Tigers were led by Geron Johnson, who scored 19 points on the night and also added seven rebounds as well. Memphis did have three players off the bench playing more than 10 minutes, which allowed Memphis to keep the pressure on the Mustangs and ultimately get the win to stay undefeated in C-USA play.

The loss drops the Mustangs to 2-7 in C-USA play and 12-12 overall. The Mustangs face Rice on the road on Saturday.