Men's Basketball Hosts Hardin-Simmons Sat. 7pm
Dec 8 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 8, 2005
This Game: HARDIN-SIMMONS Cowboys (4-2) AT SMU Mustangs (3-3)
Sat. Dec. 10 - 7:05 pm CT Moody Coliseum Dallas, Texas Radio: KAAM 770 AM
The SMU Mustangs (3-3) play six of their next seven games at home beginning with a visit by the Hardin-Simmons Cowboys (4-2) to Moody Coliseum on Saturday Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. The Mustangs are 2-1 at home so far this season and 12-5 at Moody Coliseum under Jimmy Tubbs. The is the 17th meeting in the series with Hardin Simmons. The Mustangs have won five in a row dating back to 1986-87, scoring more than 100 points in three of those contests. The most recent meeting was a 110-69 SMU season-opening victory in Moody Coliseum on Nov. 20, 1999. The last win for Hardin-Simmons was a 56-55 triumph at Moody Coliseum in the 1952-53 season.
SMU LEADERS: Points: Derrick Roberts 14.5 Rebounds: Devon Pearson 9.7 Assists: Dez Willingham 3.3
GAME 7: Hardin-Simmons Location: Abilene, Texas Enrollment: 2,436 Conference: American Southwest Colors: Purple & Gold Arena: Mabee Complex (2,400) President: Dr. Craig Turner Athletic Director: John Neese Head Coach: Dylan Howard Years At School/Overall: 5th/same Assistant Coach: Brandon Osborne Series Record: SMU leads 12-4 (The Mustangs have won five in a row dating back to 1986-87. The most recent meeting was a 110-69 SMU season-opening victory in Moody Coliseum on Nov. 20, 1999. The last win for Hardin-Simmons was a 56-55 triumph at Moody Coliseum in the 1952-53 season.)
LAST GAME: STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) - JamesOn Curry scored 13 points and Eddie Sutton passed Lefty Driesell for fifth place on the all-time coaching wins list Saturday night as Oklahoma State beat SMU 64-54. David Monds' three-point play midway through the second half sparked a nine-point Oklahoma State run that helped put away Sutton's latest win. Monds took a pass from Curry and missed inside, but hustled to the other side of the rim to get the rebound and put it back. Curry followed with a layup and Torre Johnson added a jumper from the left side before Marcus Dove blocked Devon Pearson's layup and ran to the other end for a layup of his own to make it 56-40. Brian Morris scored back-to-back baskets inside and Derrick Roberts' fast-break layup brought SMU (3-3) back within 56-46, but Jamaal Brown answered with a driving layup for Oklahoma State and Mario Boggan's two-handed jam put the Cowboys ahead 60-46. After that, the closest SMU could get was 60-51 after Morris' two free throws with 52.4 seconds left. Boggan and Johnson added 12 points each for the Cowboys (6-1), and Monds scored 11. Dez Willingham scored 19 and Morris finished with 12 points for the Mustangs, who have lost eight straight games against Oklahoma State. Curry, Oklahoma State's leading scorer, didn't make his first basket until he hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to give the Cowboys a 29-23 lead with 2:31 left in the first half. He added two free throws and a long jumper to get Oklahoma State's advantage to 33-23 and had a chance to stretch the lead further, but missed two free throws and a 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer. The Mustangs cut a 12-point deficit to 47-40 when Roberts - SMU's leading scorer - was fouled and injured while shooting a jumper, and Willingham replaced him and made both free throws. After a dizzy Roberts went to the bench, Oklahoma State started to extend its lead. A close first half was marked by five ties, the last created when SMU's Donatas Rackauskas scored inside to even the score at 16. Neither team scored during a span of more than three minutes after Rackauskas' basket. Johnson ended the drought with four free throws, then tacked on a the first basket in 4 1/2 minutes to give the Cowboys a 22-16 lead. Oklahoma State wouldn't trail again.
FREE THROW BONANZA - TEAM: The Mustangs are averaging 25.3 free throw attempts per game and have at least 15 free throw attempts in every game this season with a high of 41 against Centenary. Last season, SMU averaged 20 free throw attempts per game. Brian Morris: The freshman is 17 of 18 to start his career and has hit 15 in a row. His 10-of-10 against Long Island (11/29), which was just the tenth time an SMU player had gone 10-for-10 or better. Dez Willingham: Has hit his last eight free throws entering the Hardin-Simmons game.
RECORD SETTERS: Additions to the SMU record books. SMU Individual Records - Game Best Free Throw Percentage (Min. 10 attempts) - t-1st Brian Morris (10-10) - 10th time an SMU player was 100% with 10+ FTA
BLOCK PARTY: The Mustangs are averaging 4.5 blocks per game this season. That is up from 3.6 blocks per contest last season.
70+ USUALLY = W: The Mustangs are 3-0 this season when reaching 70 points and 0-3 when under 70 points. Under Tubbs 70+ <70 2004-05="" 12-3="" 2-11="" 2005-06="" 3-0="" 0-3="" 15-3="">
CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARDS: The Mustangs have a +6.3 rebounding margin. Devon Pearson is leading the Mustangs with 9.7 boards per contest followed by Brian Morris at 6.5 per outing and Donatas Rackauskas at 5.3 boards per game. The last time an SMU player averaged 10+ rebounds per game for a season was 10.7 by Jon Koncak in 1984-85. Best season rebound margin in SMU history +6.3 (37.3 to 31.0) 2005-06 +5.7 (48.5 to 42.8) 1959-60 +5.1 (32.9 to 27.8) 1988-89 +5.0 (46.5 to 41.5) 1958-59 +4.6 (38.1 to 33.5) 1984-85 +4.3 (43.3 to 39.0) 1999-00
FIVE & DIME: The Mustangs have had five players score in double figures twice this season. 11/20 Centenary (W, 85-67): Devon Pearson 26, Derrick Roberts 14, Brian Morris 12, Dez Willingham 11, and Ike Ofoegbu 10. 11/29 Long Island (W, 74-62): Brian Morris 16, Devon Pearson 14, Dez Willingham 14, Brian Epps 11, Derrick Roberts 11
DOUBLE-DOUBLES: Devon Pearson (26 pts, 11 rebs) - Centenary 11/20 Brian Morris (16 pts, 11 rebs) - Long Island 11/29 Devon Pearson (14 pts, 14 rebs) - Long Island 11/29
DEPTH CHART: The Mustangs are using a larger rotation this year with at least nine players seeing action in each game.
