The SMU men's basketball team put its record book to work in Sunday afternoon's 110-63 win against Cal State Fullerton, putting up stats that the program hasn't seen in as many as 30-plus seasons.
B.J. Edwards finished with a triple-double, Boopie Miller and Samet Yiğitoğlu had double-doubles and freshman Jermaine O'Neal Jr. scored 21 points as the Mustangs won their 11th nonconference game of the season.
"Our guards lead the way. Boopie had 12 assists, only one turnover, and B.J. had a triple-double. That's pretty impressive," SMU head coach Andy Enfield said. "Samet had another 12 rebounds. He's 12 for his last 14 from the field. He's starting to finish around the rim at a much higher level than he did last year. Corey (Washington) made three 3s, and Sam (Walters) made two, and then Jermaine came off the bench and was spectacular, especially in the first half."
For Edwards, it was his second triple-double of the season, with 21 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. He is the only player in the country with two triple-doubles this year and joins Gerald Lewis — who did it three times in the 1992-93 season — with multiple triple-doubles in a season in SMU history.
His first triple-double came against Arkansas State, delivering double figures in points, assists and steals. The 10 steals set a new program record and gave Edwards a tie for second in ACC history. It was also the first triple-double with steals in ACC history.
"They told me I needed one more assist with like five minutes left, but I just go out there and try to go my hardest," Edwards said. "To be honest, I look at the scoreboard a little bit. During halftime, I told myself I was going to get a triple-double just from the seven assists. I think I had four rebounds, three points, something like that. I knew I had to go hard in the second half."
It was the third straight double-double for Yiğitoğlu, the longest streak since Jordan Tolbert had a three-game streak of his own in December of 2015. He has scored in double figures in each of the last five games and followed up a perfect 7-for-7 against Central Arkansas with a 5-for-7 performance against Fullerton to finish with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
O'Neal tied Edwards with a game-high 21 points, going 8-for-12 from the field and 3-for-4 from the 3-point line. In doing so, he became the first freshman to hit the 20-point mark since Ethan Chargois in 2017.
It didn't take long for O'Neal to get things going, scoring 14 points in 10 minutes off the bench in the first half.
"To start off the game I kind of just played within the offense," O'Neal said. "When the defense closed out too hard, I could get downhill to the midrange game. That's what I really try to focus on. It's a shot that coaches don't really think it's the best, but my coaches believe in me, and I've shown that I can hit it. Then once it started to fall, I knew it was that type of game for me."
It was the type of game O'Neal knows he is capable of putting together.
"I can come in and just play defense, I can hit shots, I can go for 20, I can kind of do a little bit of everything, just depending on the day and what we need," O'Neal said.
O'Neal is part of the highly touted, highest-rated freshman class for the Mustangs. They have plenty of talent and are showing it in games. But that is developed on the practice court going against the veteran starters.
"When you have to play against Boopie Miller and B.J. Edwards every day in practice. Jermaine O'Neal, B.J. Davis-Ray, those guys are being guarded by two of the best defensive players in the United States every day in practice," Enfield said. "You can see their improvement. When they get in the game, they're more comfortable now because they're not guarded like that in the game. They're guarded like that in practice. They have certainly improved."
The Mustangs now already have four games of at least 100 points this season, one behind last year's total of five and two behind the 1992-93 team that has a program-record six. The 110 points is a new season high, and the 47-point victory is the ninth-largest win margin in program history and the highest since another 47-point win in 2021.
The 11 nonconference wins are the most since the 2015-16 team opened the season 12-0, en route to an 18-0 start.
And now the Mustangs have a strong performance to take into ACC play.
"Hold a team to 19 points, you're up 32 at halftime. That means they did a good job," Enfield said. "And so our halftime message was, keep playing hard, don't play the score, because we want to keep getting better as a team. We had a couple mistakes early in the second half, and they hit some 3s on us, but it was a solid performance, and we're proud of them because when you ask them to do something as coaches, and they do it, then you have to congratulate them. They did a great job."
