This week's trip to California and Stanford is not quite a homecoming for first-year SMU head coach Andy Enfield and his staff, but it's pretty close.
Trips to Berkeley and Palo Alto were regular occurrences back in the old Pac 12. Now Enfield is taking his new team out west with plenty to play for.
"Will be an easy trip for us, we know what hotels to stay in, where to eat, the good food and where not to go," Enfield said. "We've been doing it for 11 years on the west coast. The Bay Area is a nice trip. Cal and Stanford, we've got to go and compete. Our players have done a great job on the road staying focused, we've come out and we're 6-1 in the ACC on the road this year. That's very, very good for this team. We hope it continues, but we know every game is going to be a battle."
Cal comes into the game in the middle of a four-game losing streak, but have been close the last two times out. The Bears lost by two in overtime at Georgia Tech on Feb. 15 and then by five at Stanford on Saturday.
Wednesday's 10 p.m. CST contest will be just the second time the Mustangs have played an opponent again. SMU won the first meeting 76-65, although that might not be much help for either team.
SMU played without 7-foot-2 freshman Samet Yiğitoğlu while Cal was without its 6-9 center Mady Sissoko and 17.6-point per game guard Andrej Stojakovic. The Mustangs could be without starting point guard Boopie Miller for a fourth straight game this time.
"Big Samet didn't play, now we're without Boopie, so it'll be different," Enfield said. "They didn't have two of their guys. It will be a new game. Cal's very talented offensively. They're explosive and they have a lot of guys who can score the ball. … It will be a little different game with some different players on the court."
The Mustangs will then travel 40 miles south for a rematch with Stanford at 4 p.m. CST on Saturday. SMU won the meeting in Dallas 85-61 after jumping out to a 20-point lead at halftime. They will once again have to deal with Maxime Raynaud who leads the ACC and is tied for first in the NCAA with 20 double doubles this season.
"We got out to a big lead by playing really hard on defense and we were active," Enfield said. "We had some deflections and steals and we made some shots, so we played a complete game against Stanford, especially to be up so much at halftime. They're very good at home and Maxime is one of the best big men in the country. … Stanford, we played very well here. I'm sure they'll be ready for us."
Not only is it a long trip to California, the length of the trip is long playing on Wednesday and Saturday. It is only the second time this season that the Mustangs have played back-to-back road games, and that worked out well enough.
"Well, the two games in five days, six-day trips, I used to say my family vacations in Hawaii are usually five days and when you've got to go on a road trip and play two games and it's longer than that, it's a problem," Enfield said. "We're looking forward to this. We had a two-game trip to Virginia and then Miami and that turned out well for us. We go out and take it game-by-game and have some fun."
SMU goes into the week tied for fourth in the ACC, but there is still a lot of basketball to be played. That leaves the Mustangs focusing on the task at hand knowing the standings and ACC tournament seedings will take care of themselves.
"We have some very good opponents on the road with Cal and Stanford, two games behind us in the standings, of course North Carolina is one game behind," Enfield said. "Just because we're tied for fourth doesn't mean anything right now. We're trying to take it game-by-game and, obviously, the more rest you have during the conference tournament is helpful."
