DALLAS — You won’t find SMU in ESPN’s 2024 March Madness predictions, but maybe the Mustangs should be included. With former President George W. Bush looking on, SMU put the AAC on notice with a dominating 27-point win against Memphis.
“We have this in ourselves every game,” Zhuric Phelps said in the post game press conference. “We lost that Memphis game (62-59 on January 7) and took it kind of hard. So, there was a lot of energy floating around our team before the game. We did what we knew we could do, but it was good to display it in a game.”
SMU won a sixth-straight game Sunday in a dominating 106-79 performance against Memphis, improving to 19-7 overall and 9-3 in AAC play. It was the most points SMU has ever scored in the AAC. The Mustangs never trailed against Penny Hardaway’s Memphis team, building a 58-36 halftime lead. The Mustangs also recorded the most assists in a game since the 1996-97 season with 28.
“28 assists, that’s a big deal,” SMU coach Rob Lanier said. “Proud of the guys’ effort. From the start, our energy and effort were high. At halftime we had 14 assists and 14 offensive rebounds; I think a lot of the tone for the game was set there.”
Ricarrado Wright led SMU with 26 points. Zhuric Phelps and Samuell Williamson scored 18 points each and Tyreek Smith and Chuck Harris had 10 apiece. Williamson also had a team-high eight rebounds and Phelps led SMU in assists with seven.
The Mustangs will ride their current win streak into a pair of important games this week. SMU will travel to No. 24 Florida Atlantic on Thursday (6 p.m., ESPN2). The Owls are tied with SMU for third in the AAC with matching 10-3 conference records after a 90-86 loss to South Florida (19-5, 12-1, first place in AAC), who the Mustangs will face three days later (11 a.m., Sunday, ESPN2).
“Florida Atlantic and South Florida are really good teams,” Phelps said. “We’re going to take it one game at a time. Just have the mindset to be prepared going into those games is a big thing for us and letting our defensive effort win the game.”
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