The Mustangs look for their first conference win on Saturday night. (Jonathan Dobin)
To say the Mustangs are in need of a win could be the understatement of the season. After beginning Conference USA play with a tough one-point loss to Southern Miss after an amazing comeback, the Mustangs have come out flat against Houston and UCF.
The road doesn’t get much easier for SMU; in fact, the only bright spot is that they will return home Saturday. Their opponent is a UTEP team ranked third in the conference with a 3-1 record in league play. The latest UTEP victory was an 18-point win over Southern Miss.
On the season the Mustangs have shot 45 percent, but in the three conference losses SMU has only managed 39 percent shooting. On the other side of the ball, the Mustang defense is allowing opponents to shoot almost 10 percent higher in conference games. And it is scoring where the Mustangs are lacking.
The team averaged 67.7 points per game through the first 14 games of the season, but has only scored 59.7 in the last three losses.
Who’s scoring has also changed.
Ike Ofoegbu, who led the Mustangs in scoring all season long, averages 3.2 fewer points a game in conference play. Devon Pearson also averages 2.6 fewer points per game in C-USA.
But there has been some improvement. Off the bench, Brian Epps has averaged 9.5 points a game this season. In conference that average jumps to 13 points a game. Epps has also seen his minutes rise in conference play.
The Mustangs have also been a much better second half team in C-USA games. During the regular season, SMU scored 30 more points in the second half than in the first. In conference games that jumps to 51.
The most notable example of these numbers is the loss to Southern Miss when the Mustangs could only manage 19 first-half point but came out and scored 37 in the second half.
Head Coach Matt Doherty spoke of the team losing some confidence after the back-to-back losses against Oklahoma and North Carolina A&T. If that was the case then, the Mustangs now definitely need a confidence boost to turn around the conference season.
SMU will need all four captains, including newly added Roberts and Ofoegbu, to show why they have those positions. Jon Killen, Rackauskas, Roberts and Ofoegbu will need to display leadership vocally, physically and on the scoreboard.
The Mustangs will take on the UTEP Miners at 7 p.m. on Jan. 20 at Moody Coliseum.
