SMU at Virginia Basketball Preview
Back home after a tough road trip, the Virginia Cavaliers will try to break out of a three-game slump when they host the Southern Methodist Mustangs on Wednesday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 9:00 PM Eastern, televised on ACC Network.
Virginia carries an 8-8 overall record, off to a disappointing 1-4 start in conference play.
About SMU
The Mustangs are led by first-year head coach Andy Enfield. He came over from Southern Cal, where he took the Trojans to five NCAA Tournament appearances in his 11 seasons there.
SMU enters with an overall record of 12-4, including 3-2 in ACC play. Their conference losses were to Duke and North Carolina. Despite a solid top 50 NET ranking, they’re still looking for their first quality win of the season. The offensive end is where they thrive, 30th nationally in adjusted efficiency, averaging better than 84 points per game.
SMU’s Personnel
Enfield changed his starting lineup in Saturday’s blowout win over Georgia Tech, opening with a smaller three-guard look. There’s a clear top seven in the rotation, but they typically go at least nine deep.
G - #2 Boopie Miller (6’0” Junior, Wake Forest transfer, 14.6 points and 5.9 assists per game)
G - #3 Chuck Harris (6’2” Super Senior, 12.4 points per game, shoots 47% from three)
G - #0 BJ Edwards (6’3” Junior, 10.6 points and 3.4 assists per game)
F - #33 Matt Cross (6’7” Super Senior, UMass transfer, 10.9 points and 8.3 rebounds per game)
C - #24 Samet Yigitoglu (7’2” Freshman, 9.2 points and 6.8 rebounds per game)
Power forward Yohan Traore (8.6 PPG) had started every game until the last one. And senior wing Kario Oquendo (9.6 PPG) scored a season-high 21 in the first meeting with UVA.
Rematch
SMU knocked off the Wahoos in Dallas in a very early conference game back on December 7th. It was a historic game from the Mustangs’ point of view, their first ever in the ACC.
It was a close contest throughout that ended on a very sour note for the Wahoos. UVA led 45-38 with around 10 minutes remaining, then never scored a field goal the rest of the game. The Mustangs padded the margin in the final minutes, pulling away for a 63-51 win.
UVA did some good things in the first meeting. They very much dictated the style, keeping it a halfcourt game, and played well defensively. And they shot the three-ball well, hitting 8 of 19, led by Isaac McKneely's 17 points.
They just seemed to run out of gas down the stretch. Forward Elijah Saunders was limited by foul trouble, held to a season-low 3 points. That was also the game in which guard Dai Dai Ames, then a starter, left early with an ankle injury.
Up Next
Virginia will head back out on the road for another rematch Saturday when they travel to Louisville. The Cardinals, currently on a six-game win streak, downed the Wahoos by a score of 70-50 in Charlottesville on January 4th.
Be sure to tune in for the pregame show Wednesday night, starting at 8:30 PM. Available on the Locker Room Access Facebook page and YouTube Channel.
(Featured Image Credit: Getty)