In its first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference, SMU quietly sits in the top third of the standings after they were picked to finish 13th in the 18-team league.
The Mustangs (17-5, 8-3) have done it by handling the ACC teams that are struggling. And in a down year for the league, that list is long.
Of SMU’s eight conference wins, seven have come against teams with losing records in the league. The Mustangs get another such test Wednesday when they travel to face Virginia Tech (10-12, 5-6) in Blacksburg, Va.
This game could be tougher than some of the others, however, as the Hokies have shown signs of a turnaround, winning their last two behind Tobi Lawal and Jaden Schutt.
Last week in road wins over Florida State and Virginia, Lawal totaled 34 points and 18 rebounds. Meanwhile, Schutt scored 34 points, hitting 7 of 16 shots from 3-point range.
“He had two years at Duke and he played very little,” Virginia Tech coach Mike Young said of Schutt. “Took him a bit to get the rust off the hinge, for lack of a better expression.”
Under first-year coach Andy Enfield, SMU has won six of its last seven.
“It’s important that your teams try to improve through the season, like this team has, especially with so many transfers,” Enfield said. “We have 10 new players.”
While the Mustangs were dependent early in the year on their backcourt, their big men have started to emerge.
In SMU’s last three games, UMass transfer Matt Cross has averaged 14.0 points and 10.7 rebounds. Meanwhile, 7-foot-2 Samet Yigitoglu has averaged 18.5 points and 7.0 boards in his last two games, which is the best stretch of his first college season.
After SMU wiped out Stanford 85-61 at home on Saturday, which was the Mustangs’ first win over a team with a winning ACC record, Enfield noted Yigitoglu’s +33 in the plus/minus category.
“He played a spectacular game,” Enfield said. “He was very active defensively.”
SMU is paced by an energetic player who arrived with ACC experience. Wake Forest transfer Boopie Miller leads the Mustangs in points (13.6) and assists (5.9) per game.
