SMU’s Jon Killen driving the lane against the Cougars. (John Schreiber)
Both the SMU and Houston men’s basketball teams came out of the gate running in front of SMU’s largest basketball home crowd of the season. The game started out with a combined four three pointers and SMU down by a score of 14-7 after four minutes of play.
The Cougars started out with a full court press but almost immediately switched to a half-court trap. The early pressure gave the Mustangs a hard time bringing the ball up and forced some early turnovers.
After starting with a smaller lineup, SMU head coach Matt Doherty went with one of his bigger lineups. Papa Dia, Bamba Fall and Alex Malone were all on the court together. That lineup played the Cougars even in terms of score for the seven minutes they were all on the court in the first half.
During the first half of play, SMU basketball fans were formally introduced to new head football coach June Jones. All of Moody Coliseum stood to applaud Jones and welcome him to Dallas.
SMU women’s basketball head coach Rhonda Rompola and the men’s basketball team were also honored during the first half. Rompola was honored for her 300th win while the men’s basketball team was honored for being the most improved academically.
After SMU cut the lead down to 10, the Mustangs allowed a couple of late baskets and trailed the Cougars 31-45 at halftime.
The pace of the game in the second half slowed down from the frantic pace of the first half. The slower game resulted in less SMU turnovers and more scoring opportunities.
The Mustangs scored 40 points in the second half, but were unable to overcome the high-percentage shooting of the Cougars. SMU dropped the game by a score of 99-71.
It was a three-point shooting contest the entire game between the two teams. SMU and Houston took a combined 70 shots from behind the arc. The Mustangs hit 7-32, while the Cougars hit 16-38.
Overall, Coach Doherty was pleased with the Mustangs’ overall performance. He commented, “I am proud of the way our guys hung in there. They competed and it was great experience for the freshmen. They are going to grow through their mistakes.”
Papa Dia led SMU in scoring on the night with a career high 21 points. When talking about arguably the best game of his short SMU career, Dia said, “It was really open because they were doubling the whole time. I was wide open down low.”
Jon Killen had a game best, and career best, 12 assists while playing all 40 minutes. His performance impressed Cougars head coach Tom Penders. Penders commented, “The development of Jon Killen has been impressive. He has shown good improvement [from last year].”
The Mustangs have a couple of days before their next game at home against Tulsa. The game will take place Saturday at Moody Coliseum at 7 p.m.
