SMU’s Devon Pearson (left) pushes past Houston Baptist’s Stephen Floyd (right) during Saturday night’s exhibition game.

The Mustangs’ basketball season is just about to start.

SMU played Houston Baptist in an exhibition on Saturday night. The Mustangs defeated the Houston Baptist Huskies, but proved there is still room for improvement.

The 70-51 score was just a side note to head coach, Matt Doherty. According to Doherty, “for [SMU] to win at a level we want to win at we’ve got to do a better job of taking care of the ball.” Doherty is referring to the 29 turnovers the Mustangs committed.

Doherty also noted the number of fouls, “21 fouls, two guys foul out and another with four. I don’t think we executed as well as we should. That’s what happens sometimes in an exhibition game.”

It’s still not clear what is to be expected when the Mustangs’ season gets underway this upcoming weekend.

One thing is for sure though, there will be players that get a lot of time this year who didn’t see much time on the court last season.

“If I went off of last year’s stats Ike [Ofoegbu] wouldn’t play for me,” said Doherty, “Ike would have started for me at North Carolina or Notre Dame. Ike is a good player.” Ofoegbu played 29 minutes, scored 14 points and had three assists on Saturday.

Doherty also spoke of Jon Killen, “Jon’s my starting point guard. John played 15 minutes a game last year.” Killen had six points and six assists, and led the Mustangs with 37 minutes.

The one stand out note was the injury to Donatas Rackauskas. Rackauskas injured his knee after playing only eight minutes. In those eight minutes Rackauskas scored four points going 2-3.

The Mustangs will start the season on Nov. 12 in Tallahassee, Fla. SMU will play three games. In those games they will be playing Illinois State, McNeese State and Florida State.

The Mustangs will open up at home on Nov. 18 against Dayton.