During his first season in the Atlantic Coast conference, SMU sits quietly in the top third of the position after being elected 13th place in 18-team.
Mustangs (17-5, 8-3) has done so by managing the ACC teams that are struggling. And for a year for the league, the list is long.
Of SMU’s eight conference gains, seven have come against teams to lose record in the league. Mustangs will receive another such test Wednesday when they travel to meet Virginia Tech (10-12, 5-6) in Blacksburg, VA.
However, this game can be tougher than some of the others, as Hokies have shown signs of a turn and won their last two behind Tobi Lawal and Jaden Schutt.
Last week in Road Wins over Florida State and Virginia, Lawal amounted to 34 points and 18 returns. At the same time, Schutt got 34 points and beat 7 out of 16 shots from 3-point intervals.
“He had two years at Duke and he played very little,” said Virginia Tech coach Mike Young about Schutt. “Took him a bit to get rust from the hinge, lack of a better expression.”
During first -year coach Andy Enfield, SMU has won six of his last seven.
“It is important that your teams try to improve through the season, as this team has, especially with so many transfers,” Enfield said. “We have ten new players.”
While Mustangs were dependent early in the year on their backcourt, their great men have begun to emerge.
In SMU’s last three matches, Umass Transfer Matt Cross has an average of 14.0 points and 10.7 returns. At the same time, 7-foot-2 Samet Yigitoglu has an average of 18.5 points and 7.0 boards in his last two matches, which is the best stretch of his first college season.
After SMU wiped out Stanford 85-61 at home on Saturday, which was Mustang’s first victory over a team with a winning ACC record, Enfield Yigitoglu +33 listed in the category plus/minus.
“He played a spectacular game,” Enfield said. “He was very active defensive.”
SMU is paced by an energetic player who arrived with ACC experience. Wake Forest Transfer Boopie Miller leads Mustangs in points (13.6) and Assists (5.9) per match.
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