After failing to close out its previous game, the SMU men's basketball team left no doubt this time and finished the job.

The Mustangs dominated the final six-plus minutes of Tuesday night's 95-85 win against No. 21 Louisville. They used a 19-7 run to deliver the second win against a ranked opponent this season.

It's the first time SMU has beaten two ranked teams in the same year since 2019-20, and the first time since 2013-14 it has done it twice at home. And the home crowd may have played a part in it.

"The crowd was incredible," SMU head coach Andy Enfield said. "Our players were just as good as the crowd."

It was a much-needed effort for the Mustangs in a game that had NCAA tournament implications.

"This was really important. They're Top 15 or Top 18 in the NET," Enfield said. "It's a Quad 1 win at home. We lost at the buzzer our last game. So you have to beat teams like this. You have to beat teams like this to go to the NCAA tournament, beat teams like this to get a decent seed."

Nothing was slowing down either team in the first half. The teams combined for 101 points, both shooting over 50% from the field, with Louisville knocking down nine 3-point shots and the Mustangs making six of their own.

By the end of the first-half track meet, SMU held a three-point lead.

"We like to play fast. We're at our best when we play fast," Enfield said. "The first half was incredible shot-making by both teams. I've never seen a half like that in college basketball, 52-49. Both teams were really efficient offensively, and the shot-making was just spectacular. The fans got a treat in that first half. Luckily, we kept making some shots in the second (half)."

That was an issue the first time the two teams met, just over two weeks prior at Louisville. SMU shot under 37% in the second half at the KFC Yum! Center and managed 27 second-half points in the loss.

On Tuesday, the Mustangs shot 57% in the second half and had eight assists to four turnovers.

"(Tuesday) was totally different," Enfield said. "We outscored them in the paint 46-30, had 21 assists and only 10 turnovers, and we forced 17 of theirs, so we followed the game plan."

While the SMU offense continued to go to work in the second half, the defense stepped up its play. The Mustangs held Louisville to just 36% shooting from the floor and 4-of-15 from the 3-point line.

"Louisville is hard to stop," Enfield said. "They have incredible offensive players. They're so dynamic with the ball—their shot-making, their shooting. And I thought the last 10 minutes, our guys just made everything tough for them."

The back-and-forth nature of the game continued throughout the second half with the lead changing six more times with five ties, but once Boopie Miller put the Mustangs back on top with 6:19 to play, it was all SMU from there.

Miller's shot started the 19-7 run, and this time, the Mustangs would not be denied.

"I felt like we were the second-half team tonight," Miller said after the game. "I feel like all the other games we lost, we were up. We showed we were better than every team. We just weren't a second-half team in those games. But I feel like we've shown we can beat and compete with any team in the league. And I feel like we've done that tonight."

The Mustangs were coming off a loss where they led late in the game and were unable to close it out. They weren't going to let that happen again.

"I feel like we've just got to go through some things to come out with big wins like that," Miller said. "I feel like every day is not going to be perfect, but just believing that we can win and just coming out and playing hard each and every night, I feel like that's what we did."

Jaron Pierre Jr. bounced back, too. He was held to nine points in the first meeting between the teams. On Tuesday, Pierre led the Mustangs with 25 points and seven rebounds, adding his second blocked shot in as many home games.

"The second half says it all," Pierre said. "This is what we're made of, this is who we are, so we've got to go down winning. Don't let them get the best of us this second half, and we kind of started that on the defensive end. We made sure we blocked out and rebounded and took away their key guys."

Miller scored 23 to finish just behind Pierre while dishing out a game-high nine assists. But two of the bigger shots of the night came out of the hands of Corey Washington. He finished with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including making all three 3-point shots he attempted.

Washington's 3-pointer with 6:52 left in the game gave SMU the lead back, and while the game would be tied once more, Louisville would not take the lead again. Less than a minute later, he hit another 3-pointer after Miller gave SMU the lead for good, not allowing Louisville to answer right back.

"His two 3s in a row are probably the key to the game," Enfield said. "I think we're down one, and he made two to give us a lead. … He was terrific. We need that 3-point shooting. He's shooting a very high percentage … and those are pressure shots. For him to step up and make those shots was impressive."

That was Washington's hard work paying off. It was the sixth time this season he has made at least three 3-pointers, and they have come in some big games. Making five in the win against North Carolina, three in the game at Louisville and three more against North Carolina State.

"It's definitely been something I worked on during the summer," Washington said. "Just knowing the position I'd be in and having a high volume of 3s, I just needed to step up and be ready to knock those down."

The Mustangs stepped up and got another big win to add to their resume, but they know the work isn't done. SMU doesn't intend to overlook anyone, whether that's a struggling Boston College team coming to Moody on Saturday, a trip out west or the final two games against Florida teams.

Each night out in the ACC is a fight to the finish. But the Mustangs proved they can get the job done.

"We have a long season ahead, meaning we can't take anything for granted," Enfield said. "We can beat any team in this league. We can also lose to any team. We have two Quad 1 opportunities on the road at Cal and Stanford, and before that, we have another home game on Saturday, and we have to take care of the home court advantage against Boston College. And so we have some big games coming up. Our goal is to get to March Madness, but we're not there yet."