Three games into the season, and the SMU men's basketball team is starting to get an idea of what its identity will be this year.
While there is still work to do, and a key piece to get back from injury in true freshman Jaden Toombs, the Mustangs have an idea of what they need to do and who they need to be in order to have success.
Coming off a closer win than second-year head coach Andy Enfield would have liked, the Mustangs were ready to go on Tuesday against Murray State. After giving up the first basket of the game, SMU went on an 11-0 run and never gave the lead up.
"The biggest factor was that if they didn't play hard, I was going to take them all out right away," Enfield said. "After our Texas A&M-Corpus Christi game, we weren't too happy. They gave tremendous effort, they played together, they played tremendous defense, and they were getting out in transition, so very proud of them (Tuesday) for how they started and throughout the game."
Even though the Mustangs beat A&M-Corpus Christi by 11, there were things the staff and players wanted to clean up. Proving they could do it just a few days later shows the potential this group has.
"It's big because we should go through our rough patches in the beginning," senior guard Boopie Miller said. "So that at the middle and the end of the season we know how we play and what type of team we are. Just seeing those rough games like last game makes us better, to watch film and the coaches get on us about making the right plays and playing hard defensively."
The coaches didn't have to go far to find an example of what playing hard looked like. They just pulled highlights of Corey Washington from the previous game.
"We did a Corey Washington edit and showed our team our last game because he saved six possessions for us last game," Enfield said. "If he can do six, maybe someone else can do one or two. First time we'd ever done an edit like that, but if he keeps doing this, maybe we'll do it more often."
And even Washington then delivered his best game in an SMU uniform, collecting his first double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds, both season highs.
He wasn't the only one.
After one of his worst shooting performances the game before, Miller delivered 28 points on 9-of-13 shooting against Murray State. It was the most points he's scored and the highest shooting percentage during his time with the Mustangs.
"We definitely watched the film of Corey, and everybody came out with that same intensity," Miller said. "I feel like we did that the first half."
SMU will face another challenge on Saturday as Butler comes to Moody Coliseum.
The Mustangs were on the wrong end of an 81-70 scoreline during last year's matchup in Indianapolis. But it will be a different-looking contest this time around. Only one of Butler's double-digit scorers from a year ago returns in Trophy Club Byron Nelson product Finley Bizjack.
And one of SMU's leading scorers, Yohan Traore, who had nine points, will suit up for the Bulldogs this season.
"We're the same staff on both sides," Enfield said. "I'm sure they'll look at our game, and we'll look at theirs, what happened last year. They had two big wings that really hurt us. They were very physical, and they backed our guys down and made some plays. They don't have those guys anymore. They're a new team, we're a new team."
Even though there isn't much carryover in terms of roster makeup, the Mustangs who did play in the game a year ago want the win this time around.
Miller was SMU's second-leading scorer in the game with 17 points while Samet Yiğitoğlu had eight points and six rebounds. BJ Edwards was held to one point, but had four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
"We lost to them last year, so when they come in, we're definitely hungry and ready to get that win," Miller said.
And they don't want to stop there either.
"I love this group. I feel like we can get better each and every day," Miller said. "So, 3-0, I feel like, is just the beginning. Day by day, watching film and getting better and knowing each other on and off the court more, it's going to get better."
