The SMU men's basketball team needed to do something following two straight losses, so a change was made to the starting lineup.

Enter Chuck Harris.

The move by SMU head coach Andy Enfield to insert Harris into the starting lineup for the 6-foot-11 Yohan Traore was a defensive one first. But it also put the best shooters the Mustangs have on the court to start a game. 

"Defensively, we felt like the small lineup would help us and then give us, probably, our best offensive lineup to start the game," Enfield said. "And it worked."

SMU struggled to score early in its last two games. It took six minutes for the team to reach 11 points against Duke and over eight minutes to reach that mark at North Carolina. 

Once again, enter Harris. 

He scored 11 points of his own within the first seven minutes as the Mustangs opened up an early 18-point lead.

"Coach just broke the news before the game," Harris said. "I just wanted to come out there and help my team. We haven't been getting off to great starts the past couple games, so he made (the change). He came to us before the game, just making a conscious message that we've got to win the first half. I was just trying to come in there and just give as much energy as I could to get us off to a faster start."

SMU went 23-of-67 from the floor against Duke and was 23-of-69 against UNC. The Mustangs made 23 shots in 44 attempts against Georgia Tech and the Mustangs finished 35-of-70 for the game. That included 14 made 3-point shots after making nine in the last two games combined.

Harris was a big part of that as he finished with 21 points, matching his season high, to go with three rebounds and two assists.

"He's a terrific shooter, offensive player," Enfield said of Harris. "He had 21 points, 7-of-11 from the field, 4-of-6 from the 3, and that's huge. We have not been shooting the ball well the last two games from anywhere, 3-point line, the field or the foul line. So it was a refreshing first half where he came out and made some shots."

And where did that offense come from, the defense. 

The Mustangs only allowed seven points in those opening seven minutes, never allowing Georgia Tech to make back-to-back baskets. During that span, SMU forced seven turnovers.

"I would say our defense was getting a lot of stops and it led to offense," junior guard B.J. Edwards said. "We've got Chuck, who's a good scorer, I've stepped my scoring role up, and Matt (Cross). We have a good offense and a fast-paced offense."

The lineup change also worked with Traore finishing with 13 points and four rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench. Seven of those came in a bunch, after Tech scored six straight to pull within 12, Traore put SMU up by a then game-high of 19. 

SMU can stick with the new-look lineup in future games, too. That will depend on how the three-guard lineup performs, along with Cross and Samet Yiğitoğlu holding their own against the opponent's big guys.

"We're a little smaller, but Matt leads the league in rebounding. So, him at the 4 at 6-7, he's an exceptional rebounder, and then we have the big guy in the middle, Samet. So we still have size rebounding the front line, three guards together. They just have to play really well defensive, like they did (Saturday), if they want to stay together."