The Mustangs are in a must-win situation tonight against Tulane if they hope to earn a first-round bye in next week’s Conference USA Tournament.
“Every game is a must win right now,” said head coach Rhonda Rompola.
In SMU’s final week of conference play, they host the Green Wave (16-12, 86) at 7 p.m. in Moody Coliseum. The Mustangs continue to be caught in a three-way tie with Southern Miss and the University of Texas at El Paso at 17-10 and 10-4 in conference polls. The top-four teams will receive a bye in next Thursday’s opening round of the conference tournament.
“Right now we’re trying to focus on us taking care of business and not be so focused on what other teams are doing because if we take care of business than things fall into place nicely,” said Rompola.
Tonight’s game features SMU’s leading scorer, junior forward Brittany Gilliam wrapping up the season on the Mustang’s home court. SMU is 5-1 in conference play at Moody. The Mustangs have the third leading scoring offense, averaging 69.3 points per game. Tulane comes in at the No.7 spot with 65.9 ppg.
“It’s about being in a familiar territory, the hype and excitement about being home,” said Rompola. “It’s huge we’re in front of our home crowd for our last two games.”
The Green Wave is 3-3 on the road in conference play after losing back-to-back games to Houston and Rice two weeks ago. One advantage Tulane brings to Moody is a leading scoring defense in the conference. The Green Wave also leads C-USA in steals with an average of 10 steals per game.
Should Tulane win tonight and this weekend against Tulsa, they will be in contention for a first round bye, too.
If SMU loses to Tulane and UTEP this week, and the University of Central Florida falls to East Carolina University or the University of Alabama, the Mustangs could see themselves in fourth place.
“Our goal has been to get that first round bye,” said Rompola. “This game against Tulane now becomes the most important game of the season.”
In the last meeting between SMU and Tulane in January, both teams struggled in shooting with SMU, hitting just 42 percent from the field. Tulane faired similarly, shooting just below 30 percent. Tulane holds a 12-8 overall advantage over the Mustangs.
“We were lucky to win that game,” said Rompola. “Tulane is playing much, much better so we have to play much better than we did last time.”
SMU hosts UTEP on Saturday in the final game of the regular season. Last month when SMU played Tulane followed by the Miners on the road, the Mustangs swept both games.
