It didn't take long for the SMU men's basketball team to pick up its first ACC win, delivering the 63-51 victory against Virginia in Saturday's conference debut.

Even though it was just one game, it's still a special moment.

"I thought our crowd was terrific. Those that didn't go to Charlotte, they really helped our players, especially in the last 10 minutes," SMU head coach Andy Enfield said. "... It's the first ACC game in SMU history, how cool was that. These players, they won a home game, the first ACC game and they're really excited. They know what this meant to our team, but also our school and the SMU community."

That moment wasn't lost on the players, either. Even ones who haven't been with the Mustangs very long. That includes senior guard Kario Oquendo who finished with a game-high 21 points, including 15 in the second half.

"It's big for us. It's something, I know, coach has been stressing all week," Oquendo said. "Something to get our team going and moving in the right direction. It's a really good win for us and something for the fans to be really proud of, as well."

While it was the first ACC win for the SMU program, and his first ACC win in an SMU jersey, it was not the first ACC win for Matt Cross. He began his career at Miami and Louisville, but played the last two seasons at UMass. 

Cross finished with six points and a game-high 10 rebounds in his return to the league.

"It was good. It was fun," Cross said. "That's what this league is. It's a game of runs. Everybody's good from the bottom to the top. It's exciting and it's fun."

The Mustangs had the final run, outsourcing Virginia 25-6 over the final 10-plus minutes. All six of Virginia's points during that stretch came from the free throw line as the Mustangs forced misses on its final nine shot attempts of the game.

"To win basketball games in the ACC, you have to defend," Enfield said. "Our players struggled early with that. They've really improved, we have a ways to go, but you have to be able to win games when you don't shoot (well). We shot 43% from the field, missed some wide-open 3s, some of the guys were getting frustrated because they were missing shots. We try to tell them, 'Your offense cannot affect your defense.' You have to grind it out every possession against a team as good as Virginia."

Oquendo helped SMU finish the game, but it was freshman Samet Yiğitoğlu who got it started. He scored SMU's first-ever ACC points on a free throw and then made the team's first field goal, flushing home a dunk. Yiğitoğlu had 14 of his 16 points in the first half.

And even his only basket of the second half was key, answering a pair of Virginia free throws that made it a one-point game with under five minutes to go. 

"We were able to get some ball screen and rolls to (Yiğitoğlu) early in the game and then some drives and dump downs," Enfield said. "Then they did a really good job for about a 20-minute stretch. They double-teamed him and he wasn't really comfortable in a couple of his passes out of the double team. … But that last move he made when we went to him and he spun back baseline, that was a big-time move. And I thought he played his best game, defensively, of the whole season."

Down by three, Oquendo hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Mustangs up by three. He then put the game away with a pair of free throws to close out the scoring.

"Virginia took a seven-point lead and (Oquendo) made two huge 3s to get us back even," Enfield said. "He was terrific. His confidence has grown, we're relying on him, we're giving him opportunities. We run plays for him, but he's also moving without the ball very well and he can drive on closeouts and get to the rim. He's really athletic and can get it done."

The Mustangs knew their usually fast-paced offense would be put to the test against a Virginia team that prefers to slow things down. SMU was able to hit enough shots, but it was the defense that came through to make the difference at the end.

"Virginia's very difficult to play against. They're very skilled, they run their offense, they're very efficient," Enfield said. "We just tried to challenge every shot we could. We had to switch at times with bigs on smalls and vice versa, but I thought our players, we've always told our guys that you can't expect to shoot the ball terrifically every night, you have to win with defense. (Saturday), we did."

Saturday's win was the fourth-straight for the Mustangs, their longest winning streak of the young season. It goes back to the Acrisure Holiday Invitational they won in Palm Springs, California and has continued into the start of conference play.

It's a combination of momentum and learning each other that has helped SMU start to stack wins.

"I think this little run after we won the tournament down there in Palm Springs and then getting another good win, ACC school, Virginia is kind of just building our confidence as new team," Cross said. "Just kind of showing that when we play together and do what we do, like we can, we can really do this."

The basketball team has also watched their fellow teams have success in their first ACC seasons. The volleyball team just finished its season in the second round of the NCAA tournament after placing fourth in the conference and the men's soccer team went to the Elite Eight in its first year.

Then, of course, there is the football team which reached the ACC championship game and made this year's College Football Playoff.

"Definitely, when you see a lot of winning around you, it kind of is contagious," Oquendo said. "It makes you feel like you have to win. The fans really enjoy when we're coming in winning, doing really big things in this conference in volleyball and football. You've got to keep it up. You can't be the team that lets it down, so just got to keep going."