NIT – Second Round – Sunday 2pm CT
No. 1 SMU (24-10) vs No. 4 Oklahoma State  (16-17)
David B. Miller Court at Moody Coliseum
Gameday Central | Ticket Info


A critical timeout and a nearly wholesale substitution early in the second half helped spark the SMU basketball team's comeback to beat Northern Iowa in the first round of the NIT.

The Mustangs took a one-point lead into halftime, but were outscored 9-2 to start the second half to trail 41-35. That prompted head coach Andy Enfield to shake things up.

He pulled four of his five players off the court just two minutes and 25 seconds into the second half. B.J. Edwards was the only starter left in just because there wasn't someone else to put in at point guard.

"Because they just scored five out of six times," Enfield said of the timeout and substitutions. 

The move paid off, including Edwards staying in and helping lead the comeback.

His basket ended the 5-0 Northern Iowa run, scoring 10 of SMU's 17 points over that stretch and assisting on the other seven points.

"We had to take all the starters out, we had to keep him in because he's our only point guard left," Enfield said. "Was going to take him out too when our starters gave up five out of the first six possessions, the other team scored, and we went to the bench and put the whole new lineup in. BJ started playing much harder, much better. He played a great second half. … Tale of two halves, BJ played incredible basketball for the last 20 minutes." 

The message was fully received by the group that came out of the game, too.

"I think it was rightfully so. I think they came out and got like three straight layups after the halftime speech, after our pretty poor first half performance," senior guard Chuck Harris said. "I thought it was necessary, and I commend BJ. He gave us a big spark and that kind of second media segment that got us, I think, tied around that point, and we finished it off from there."

Edwards finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, four steals and just one turnover. He needed to step up with starting point guard Boopie Miller missing his sixth game out of the last 10 contests.

Both Edwards and Harris played 34 minutes in Miller's absence. Harris finished with 12 points and five assists. 

"Boopie's a great player," Edwards said. "He's a great point guard, so anytime we don't have him everybody has to step up. So I'll take most of the point guard position when he's gone, but Chuck can run the point guard, as well, with Tibet (Görener). We have good ball handlers, but we all just got to play together when Boopie's not (playing)."

No Harris shot was bigger than a 3-pointer of his own to answer a pair 3s by UNI to pull within three points. Harris added a couple of free throws as he scored the first five of a 7-0 run that put SMU up by double digits for the first time.

"Honestly, they went on their run, but I never thought the game was out of reach, truthfully," Harris said. "And then once we did cut it close and I could see they were kind of tired, the point guards especially, forcing a lot of turnovers on them. I think after that we kind of smell blood and just finished it off."

Coming off the disappointment of a three-point loss in the ACC tournament quarterfinals and then not making the NCAA tournament, Wednesday's game was a gut-check for the Mustangs. They may have come out a little slow, but settled down and played like they know how.

Now SMU is ready to keep the wins coming.

"It's a really big win for us. We're in the NIT now, we're not going to hang our heads," Edwards said. "We wanted to go to March Madness, but we're in the NIT so we're just trying to win as many games as possible. It's a blessing to still be playing at this time."

After playing a team the Mustangs knew nothing about before the matchup was announced, there will be some familiarity in the second round. SMU hosts Oklahoma State at 2 p.m. Sunday. They met in Stillwater for an exhibition game before the season started.

"We scrimmaged them early in the season. That was before, we didn't have our whole roster so it'll be different," Enfield said. "We went up to Oklahoma State in the preseason. I thought it was very, very good for our team. They're very athletic, so our guys know who Oklahoma State is because they're in the Big 12 and they're four hours away. I think it should be a heck of a game this weekend."