While it is a road game, the first in the ACC for the SMU basketball team, it is a homecoming for Matt Cross.

The Massachusetts native will be roughly 15 minutes away from home when the Mustangs face Boston College at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday. Cross spent the last two seasons at nearby UMass, but it's been a while since he's been back.

"I haven't been back home since I came down here in the summer," Cross said. "So I'm excited to go back home, see friends, family, and feel a little bit of that real cold there, not the cold they call it down here."

Cross is coming off, arguably, his best game in an SMU jersey. He had 16 points and tied his career high with 16 rebounds in last week's win against LSU. 

But don't expect Cross to take all the credit.

"Absolutely, it feels good. But, I mean, they also put me in that position to be able to," Cross said. "The coaches put me in a position to be able to score the ball. Our players helped get me the ball when I'm open and the rebounding, when you've got people like Samet (Yiğitoğlu) who's 7-2 and a presence and Yohan (Traore), who's 6-11, they've got to box out a lot of people. So it makes it easier for me to come in there and get some."

Things at SMU didn't get off to a great start for Cross, though. He played just one minute of the first game before suffering a back injury. That kept him out of the next two games and limited him in the two after that.

His first fully healthy game was a 17-point, 12-rebound double-double against Prairie View A&M. 

"It was tough," Cross said of the injury. "I mean, I've never even had back injuries before, but just comes with, I guess, getting older too, right? It definitely sucked because it's my last year, so I wanted to have a good year, but stuff happens out of your control."

Now he's back and having an impact. In the seven games he's been healthy, Cross is averaging 10.6 points and 10.7 rebounds, hitting double-digit rebounds in six and double-digit scoring three times.

"Your good players have to play well in the big games, right?" SMU head coach Andy Enfield said of Cross after the LSU win. "That's how you win at a high level and he certainly did that (Saturday). Very, very proud of him. He has a tremendous attitude, just a tough, tough young man."

And even with 16 points and 16 rebounds, it might have been a defensive play that impressed Enfield the most from that win.

"He's extremely tough, as you see," Enfield said. "His wall up in transition, where (Corey) Chest came down, was going to dunk the ball, and he stood there and took the contact and the ball went out of bounds. That's a big time basketball play. That's just toughness and that was a big part of the game. Ball went out of bounds, they get the ball back, but just to stand there and take that contact when the guy's coming full speed at you, it's impressive."

Cross has played one game at Silvio O. Conte Forum in Boston. That was as a true freshman at Miami in the 2020-21 season. So even though he was there, he didn't get the full experience.

"We didn't get the full feeling, it was the COVID year," Cross said. So it was tough. But, you know, Boston College is a hockey arena too, so they've got the ice underneath. That's what I grew up playing in is cold gyms. So, I like it, but I know it's not for everybody."

Cross called this extra year of eligibility due to that COVID season as a "gift" and he is with the Mustangs to make the most of it.

And with the Mustangs, he's back in the ACC where he spent his first two collegiate seasons. But those Miami and Louisville teams went a combined 23-36 overall and 10-29 in the ACC. 

He is hoping this year's SMU team can finish his college career on a high note.

"It feels like it's come full circle, coming back to the ACC," Cross said. "But it's good to be able to come back into it with a good team, an experienced team and a coach like Andy and the coaching staff that really know what winning is. It's good to just be able to do that with this group of guys in my last year. Be able to go back and kind of prove something. Come back in and really have a winning season. I entered college in the ACC and now I'm exiting (in the ACC), so it just feels fitting."

Those are the same expectations his coach has and one of the reasons Enfield brought Cross to SMU, to win games in the ACC.

"We came here to compete in the ACC, and we have a chance," Enfield said. "We're 1-0 and now we have to go on the road. Next week, we have final exams … and then we have to go on the road at Boston Saturday. Matt Cross is from that area, so it'll be a homecoming for him. What a great way to have 16 and 16 on your way up to home and hopefully he'll play like that up in Boston College."