Derrick Roberts scored eight points in 23 minutes in his first game back in the lineup after missing the previous four to a knee injury. (Jonathan Dobin)
It was the same song second verse last night against Houston as the Mustangs lost to the Cougars by 15 for the second time this season. But the game had a different feel to it this time around.
SMU trailed Houston by 20 after the first half in their first meeting, but last night the halftime deficit was only seven. However, the Mustangs just couldn’t find the offense to shorten the gap.
“I think it was improvement. They blew us out last time, this game we were always within striking distance,” said head coach Matt Doherty.
It was a 14-0 run early in the second half when Houston began to pull away. The run gave the Cougars a 17-point lead, after which the Mustangs matched Houston point for point.
The height advantage that SMU held over Houston was not a factor as 6’11” Donatas Rackauskas never made it onto the floor and 7’1″ Bamba Fall played just 13 minutes.
Doherty used his small lineup for the defensive aspect. “Against a team that plays with five perimeter players we need to play zone to play big. Once that broke down we didn’t have a choice but to play man,” said Doherty.
That took away 14 points and 10 rebounds that Fall had in the first meeting against Houston.
In Fall’s 13 minutes he took only one shot and scored no points.
Just as expected the Cougars took their fair share of three-point shots, and they made their fair share too. The Mustangs, however, kept pace with Houston from beyond the arch. The Mustangs made seven of 21 attempts while Houston made nine of 27, giving each team a 33.3 percent average.
Doherty rearranged his lineup to match up better against the three-point shooting Cougars. “That’s why I put Brian [Epps] in,” said Doherty. “If we can bet the press we get two on one with Brian and Dez [Willingham] on one side, two good shooters.”
Epps ended the game with nine points and went 3-9 from the three-point line. Willingham scored five points and was 1-4 from beyond the arch.
Derrick Roberts returned to the SMU lineup after missing four games due to an injured knee.
“We wanted to cap him at 20 minutes,” said Doherty “he played 23, and he took himself out at the end. I think the big concern is how he’s going to react tomorrow.”
In the 23 minutes Roberts scored eight points and had two rebounds. “I thought in terms of timing he was pretty good. I don’t think he was real sharp handling the ball,” Doherty said “but no one handled the ball real well.”
The Mustangs turned the ball over 21 times last night, which matched the total in the teams’ first meeting. “We can’t turn the ball over 21 times and give them 23 points off turnovers and expect to win,” said Doherty. The Cougars had a 13-point advantage off turnovers.
Devon Pearson led the Mustangs with 13 points coming off the bench and also led the team with nine rebounds. Ike Ofoegbu joined Pearson as the only other double-digit scorer for SMU with 11 points.
Jon Killen struggled scoring only three points, going 1-3 from the floor and committed nine turnovers.
The Mustangs (13-10, 2-7 Conference USA) will host Rice (12-10, 6-3 C-USA) Saturday at 7 p.m. at Moody.
