Opponents are learning the hard way that there are a lot of ways the SMU men's basketball team can score points.

The Mustangs delivered another lesson on Tuesday night, with Boopie Miller and Jaron Pierre Jr., in an 89-81 win against Notre Dame. Miller dominated the first half before Pierre took over in the second half.

"Boopie had a great first half, and Jaron was not very good," Enfield said. "And then, in the second half, Boopie struggled, and Jaron was terrific."

Miller came out on fire, scoring 18 points in the first half on 4-for-4 shooting from the 3-point line and then just coming up short on a half-court attempt at the buzzer. Notre Dame didn't necessarily make any significant adjustments to defend Miller in the second half. It just executed better. That was enough to hold him to two points in the second half.

Enter Pierre. After a first half with four points on 2-of-7 shooting, he erupted for 18 points in the second half. That included a windmill dunk and a sequence with a block at one end and a corner 3 at the other.

"I thought Boopie was really good in the first half. I thought Pierre was really good in the second half," Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry said. "That's the danger of this team. They've got so many guys that can get going."

And the Mustangs know it. Players don't have to force the issue or take on sole responsibility for scoring. There are plenty of others who can step in and step up.

"That's how it's got to be every game," Miller said. "If I'm off, Jaron got to pick it up. And if he's off, I've got to pick it up. So that's how it's going to be for the rest of the season. We've just got to keep bringing guys along so we can keep winning."

It's not even just Miller and Pierre, either. While they are the leading scorers, B.J. Edwards, Corey Washington and Samet Yiğitoğlu also average double figures offensively. Freshmen Jaden Toombs and Jermaine O'Neal Jr. have also shown the ability to turn up the offense.

That's a lot for an opponent to have to account for.

"B.J. Edwards, he's had huge halves for us or big games," Enfield said. "So when you look at our lineup, and then you have Toombs and Corey Washington, guys off the bench have given us more production lately, more scoring, better defense and offensively, we're still leading the league in scoring."

SMU also used its height advantage against the Irish, utilizing the 7-foot-2 Yiğitoğlu and 6-foot-10 Toombs. 

Yiğitoğlu scored seven of SMU's first 10 points of the second half. The second basket helped start a 19-2 run, which really got going with Toombs — scoring three points of his own during it — joining Yiğitoğlu on the floor.

"We just went two bigs in the second half. I put Toombs in with Samet, and we went on a little run," Enfield said. "There's two ways to look at it: you try to match up to them, or make them match up to you. And I thought when Samet and Toombs played together, it was a tie game, and then we extended (the lead) to six or eight with them in the game together."

They combined for 20 points — Yiğitoğlu with 11 and Toombs with nine. Washington also made his presence known on the offensive end. He made a 3 for SMU's first basket of the game and had nine of SMU's first 14 points, finishing with 14 points and three made 3-pointers.

"We have a lineup of guys that can score the ball at every position," Enfield said. "When someone doesn't have it, we've been able to score enough points to win a lot of games this year because we're talented enough offensively in multiple positions."

Even when guys aren't scoring, they influence the game. Edwards scored seven points but had six assists and eight rebounds, while Miller had seven assists of his own, and Pierre had six assists, his most in an SMU jersey.

"We trusted in what we was doing," Pierre said. "But at the same time, Boopie led us the whole way, kind of kept telling us, 'Let's keep locking up. Let's not take them for granted. Let's keep on putting a whooping on him.' So in the second half, that's what we kept doing to keep the lead."

Pierre's team-high 22 points gave him three straight games with at least 20 points, hitting that mark for the fourth time in five games and nine times this season. It also put him over 2,000 points for his career.

"I will say, for me, being younger to now, I have seen my game grow a lot," Pierre said. "Just not reacting to everything, but at the same time, learning how to accept roles. I have my own confidence, and I'm comfortable in my own skin, but I'm learning how to be uncomfortable and making things work and putting winning before everything."