Punked Again

SMU Falls to Houston, 69-56, for Sixth Consecutive League Loss

DALLAS – In the aftermath of another C-USA loss for SMU (7-15, 1-8), a game in which Houston looked ripe for an upset, five “Cougar High” students who’d trekked up I- 45 for the game, lingered to taunt exiting SMU fans.

“I’d be sad too if my team was 1-8!” yelled one. “Yeah,” grinned another. The scraggly group in red Cougar attire then boisterously counted out the game’s final point differential – 13 - while pointing to the scoreboard as SMU fans quietly shuffled out.

These Cougar fans let SMU's faithful hear it after the game.

It’s come to this? Movie extras from Knocked Up, who skipped Navel Lint Discovery class to make the game, laying down smack in Moody Coliseum?

Say it ain’t so!

But, indeed, these are trying days for the SMU fan. Not since 1920-22 have SMU’s men’s basketball and football teams combined for fewer than five conference wins over two seasons - the current mark for the two squads since their 2007 seasons began.

Men’s hoops has the five wins over coach Matt Doherty's second and partial-third seasons at SMU, but only twice before in the last 14 years have the Mustangs had so few league victories over a similar time frame. (see Notes below.)

This basketball team, though, appears to be trying and working hard, as evidenced by its hanging with good C-USA teams for three-quarters of games.

“The effort’s been pretty good,” said SMU coach Matt Doherty after Wednesday’s game. “We’re right there in a lot of games and it comes down maybe to the last ten minutes. … I think it’s just an experience thing, a mental toughness thing, that we’ve got to be able to finish off opponents. This would have been a really nice win against a very good opponent.”

How does a team get mentally tough? “You recruit it,” Doherty said. “You develop it in practice and you get experience, maturity.” Doherty noted that the Pomeroy basketball rankings (http://kenpom.com/rate.php) have the Mustangs rated the 34 th most inexperienced team in the country.

(Interestingly, Pomeroy also has the Mustangs as the tenth least “lucky” of 344 teams rated - “luck” defined as the deviation between actual record winning percentage versus the expected record based on a statistical bell curve. Overall, SMU ranks 210. )

Bamba Fall, left, looks for the ball in the first half. Fall led SMU with 16 points.

Coogs Off

With Houston’s shooting off a bit this night, (33 percent in the first half, 39 percent overall), SMU appeared to have a chance, trailing 32-30 at the break after sinking 4 of 8 from 3-point range. But in the second half, the Mustangs put up a brick-like 27 percent (6-22) from the field as the Cougars pulled away.

It was eerily reminiscent of last week’s fade against then No. 14 Memphis. This time, Paul McCoy’s 3 gave SMU a 40-39 lead with 15:30 remaining and a Fall free throw kept SMU up, 43-41, at the 12:33 mark. But the Mustangs wouldn’t score again for nearly eight minutes as Houston skated to a 14-0 run to ice it. (A few Pony fans began to trickle out, down 10 with 7:44 to go.)

Doherty wasn’t that surprised that the Coogs looked beatable early. “It’s tough to play on the road,” he said. “They looked very sharp against Central Florida. … They come in here, maybe they’re taking a deep breath because they went through a tough stretch in their schedule and maybe they thought this was going to be an easier game.”

Fall Leads

Bamba Fall led SMU with 16 points and Paul McCoy added 10, on just 3 of 11 from the field. Mohammad Faye nabbed a career-high 13 boards for the Mustangs and had 9 points. SMU shot 74 percent from the line (17-23), a hair back of the Cougars’ 76.5 percent (13-17).

Houston (15-7, 6-3) turned 19 SMU turnovers into 19 points as the Mustangs pocketed 10 points off nine Cougar miscues. Those SMU turnovers and Houston’s 18 offensive rebounds were key, said Doherty. “As a result, they had 21 more shots [than we did.]”

SMU was outscored in the paint, 32-14, and the Coogs also prevailed on second-chance points, 18-6.

Aubrey Coleman, last week’s C-USA player of the week, paced Houston with 20 points. Marcus Cousin double-doubled for the Cougars, with 14 points and 14 boards.

“We were in position to take this game and we just didn’t finish the job,” Doherty said. “But we’re getting better. We’re getting better as a team. We’re getting better as a program. Last year, we got blown out by Houston - both nights.”

“It’s tough when you invest and you lose, but the key is our guys keep investing.”

Next Two for SMU:

• @ UAB, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2 p.m.
• @ No. 8 Memphis, Wednesday, Feb. 18, 7 p.m.

SMU Basketball Notes:

• SMU’s 1920 and ’21 football teams were winless in Southwest Conference play (0-8-2), while men’s basketball went 0-11 in 1920-21 and won four in 1921-22 – for a combined four wins for both programs over the two-year period. (SMU joined the SWC in 1918, TCU in ’23.)
• The two other periods in the last fourteen years the Mustangs have just five league wins: Coach John Shumate’s SMU basketball team had three conference wins in 1993-94 and two through February 11th of the 1994-95 season. The Mustangs went on to win one more, for six over the two-year period, and Shumate was fired. Shumate’s Mustangs won the SWC championship in 1993; Coach Doherty’s Mustangs won five C-USA games over his first (2006-07) and partial-second (2007-08) seasons to this point.

Quotable Doherty

• On SMU newcomer Mohammad Faye: “I just think that he is starting to get more and more comfortable. He is really maturing. It’s been tough. I mean, the guy came from Senegal [ Africa] to Georgia Tech. He struggled academically, struggled athletically, [then] comes here [and] has to sit out a year. He wasn’t sure if he was going to be eligible. He’s kind of becoming our emotional leader a little bit and he’s a competitor.”