SMU forward Papa Dia (front) goes for the lay up past TCU’s John Ortiz (back) during the second half of last night’s game in Moody Coliseum. (John Schreiber)
The energy in Moody Coliseum was high and the mood was tense for the State Farm DFW Duel. The SMU (3-4) and TCU (4-3) men’s basketball teams faced off Wednesday night in the 138th meeting of the two teams in the crosstown rivalry.
The first-half action featured tough defense where baskets, especially in the post, were hard to come by. The game remained tight for the entire half with TCU holding the largest lead of seven at one point. The half finished with the Horned Frogs in the lead by a score of 34-29.
TCU relied mostly on the three-point shots for the entire half. They shot just over 30 percent after going 6-19 from behind the arc.
The Horned Frogs had two players in double figures during the half. Brent Hackett fired up 11 three pointers in the half alone and made four of them. These accounted for all of his 12 points.
The Mustangs got most of their baskets from midrange jumpers and some three pointers. SMU hit the offensive glass and grabbed seven offensive rebounds. The second opportunities accounted for the Mustangs’ six points in the paint.
Derrick Roberts led the Mustangs in the first half in scoring with nine points. However, his most notable stat after playing mostly the entire time was zero turnovers. This is significant because TCU pressed for nearly the entire half and forced 11 SMU turnovers.
Coming out of the half, SMU senior guard Jon Killen and the entire SMU team turned up their game an extra notch. Responding to the continued TCU press, Killen started driving hard to the lane. He single-handedly scored more points in the paint than the entire team did in the first half.
At halftime, SMU head coach Matt Doherty made a tactical adjustment to help break the press. On the adjustment, Killen said, “We did not have a guy in the middle of the zone. Once we made that adjustment, we were able to get the ball up comfortably.”
Breaking the press helped the Mustangs to eventually overcome the TCU lead and energized the crowd.
Two consecutive Bamba Fall dunks in transition got the entire crowd on its feet and SMU out to a nine-point lead with 8:53 left in the game. Fall hit knees with a TCU player earlier in the half, but battled back to give SMU some crucial minutes.
For the first 15 minutes of the second half, the Mustangs played a high-tempo game. They won that time period by a score of 34 to 21. Once SMU got a lead, the game pace slowed back down to a speed similar to the first half. This allowed TCU to cut the lead to three with two minutes left in the game.
Doherty was not upset with three consecutive plays when the shot clock ran down to zero. Doherty commented, “I was concerned, but the good thing was they were shot clock violations. We had the lead, burnt 35 seconds, and still got to set our defense.”
When the game got tight and TCU was down by only two points, Derrick Roberts came down the court with just 30 seconds left to give the Mustangs a two-possession lead. This was answered quickly by a TCU three pointer that made it a two-point game.
On the inbound, TCU fouled SMU’s Mike Walker with 18 seconds left in the game. Walker only had two points in the game, but they were two pressure free throws that gave SMU a two-possession lead and eventually, the win.
SMU won the game by a score of 71-65. For the third game in a row, the Mustangs out-rebounded their opponent. They now have a three-game winning streak on the season and against TCU.
