SMU will look to Bamba Fall to have another big game against Houston tonight at Moody Coliseum. (Nick McCarthy)

Second chances don’t come around often, but the Mustangs will have another shot at the Houston Cougars tonight at Moody Coliseum.

SMU lost the first meeting 82-67 in Houston. In that meeting, the Mustangs committed 21 turnovers. Since that game the Mustangs have averaged 15.5, and the last two games have seen the Mustangs turn the ball over just 13 and 12 times.

Head Coach Matt Doherty listed ball handling as a top priority. Doherty also talked about the shooting ability of the Cougars.

“They have the No. 1 three-point percentage in the league, they take a lot of threes – 28 a game – and they are No. 1 in the league in three-point makes with 10,” he said.

The Cougars shoot 34.5 percent from the three-point line and have attempted 229 more threes than their opponents this season. Robert McKiver leads Houston with 19 points a game and scored 25 against SMU in January.

In that game, Bamba Fall had 10 rebounds and 12 points for his first career double-double.

Doherty also said, “The first 10 minutes we can’t dig ourselves a big hole.” In the last game against Houston, the Mustangs were down by 11 with 13 minutes left and down by 18 later in the half.

The Mustangs could get a big lift from Derrick Roberts. SMU has played the last four games without the second-leading scorer on the team. Roberts is tied with teammate Devon Pearson with 9.6 points a game. “[Roberts] will practice [Wednesday], and if it goes well he’ll have a chance to play 15-20 minutes,” said Doherty. “Which would be nice because we could use it.”

In Roberts’ absence, Brian Epps has seen more playing time and has made the most of it. Epps has averaged 9.5 points in the four games Roberts has missed.

Dez Willingham has also seen more time, including a spot in the starting lineup. Willingham has scored 6.3 points and tallied 1.5 assists a game in Roberts’ absence.

In last Saturday’s loss to Memphis, the Mustangs didn’t play up to Doherty’s standards. “I just thought that our defense was really bad, and their offense was really good, and as a result they beat us soundly,” said Doherty, who wasn’t upset with his team after the 88-52 loss.

“I didn’t want to take away from progress we had made,” he said.

The standout player this season has been Ike Ofoegbu, who has played inspired basketball after admitting that he needed to see himself as a more go-to player.

Ofoegbu increased his average points per game to an even 13 with 17 points against Memphis and 19 points against Tulane and Tulsa.

The Mustangs will also look to big men Bamba Fall and Donatas Rackauskas. At 6′ 11″ Rackauskas will have a three-inch advantage over Houston’s two tallest players. Fall will have a five-inch advantage.

The Mustangs will take on the Cougars in Moody Coliseum at 7 p.m.

The Mustangs hope to have Derrick Roberts back after he missed four games with an injured knee. (Jonathan Dobin)