Andy Enfield on SMU's toughness, effort at Virginia Tech

SMU basketball coach Andy Enfield spoke with the Mustang Radio Network after Wednesday’s win at Virginia Tech. Here’s what he had to say to the radio crew of Rich Phillips and Scott Garner.

On SMU’s win at Virginia Tech: “This is a very difficult place to play. Very loud in here. Our guys hung tough. This was a really tough college basketball game. We knew it was gonna come down to the last couple minutes, it did, and we made that run late in the game, and then we held on, and Boopie to step up and make those two free throws. But right before that, to take that lead, and our guys just hung tough the whole night.”

On Virginia Tech’s effort: “Well, it was a very physical game. They bumped us on every cut. They bumped us on every drive. Of course, on the rebounding. Then they are playing very well. They just won two games in a row. They’re better than their record. They’re 5-7 in the league now, but they are better than their overall record. And they’ve gotten a lot better and they’re playing at a pretty high level right now. So credit to Coach Young, his staff, and their players. They played extremely hard today. And it was a really tough game overall.”

On SMU’s guards and Matt Cross playing with toughness: “Well, they’re not too many guys in college basketball tougher than Matt Cross, probably none. He was incredible tonight 21 points, seven rebounds, two assists, had two steals. Then what can you say about BJ Edwards? Didn’t shoot the ball well, but he led us in rebounds with eight. He had eight assists, one turnover, two steals and really did a great job on their shooters and their best offensive players most of the night.”

On SMU’s six turnovers: “Well, that’s a credit to our players and our guards. They did a really good job. I think one of the turnovers was an offensive foul on a screen. So really five, you know, live ball stuff. I thought we took care of the ball. We shared it. Had 16 assists, only six turnovers. That’s a formula to give yourself a chance to win and fortunately it worked out well for us tonight.” 

On some of SMU’s late game plays made: “Chuck played great. That possession you’re talking about, Boopie did a terrific job. He penetrated, got to the ACC (logo), hit BJ in the corner, BJ made the extra pass to Chuck for the 3. Just really good team basketball. I thought we moved it. We were unselfish and Boopie’s playing, he had foul trouble tonight so he didn’t play as many minutes as he normally does, but he’s playing at a very high level as our lead guard.”

On SMU’s defense: “Well, our defense has improved a lot. I thought tonight we gave them a couple things that we probably shouldn’t have. We could have made it a little harder in certain times of the game. But when you play on someone’s home court with this type of crowd, Virginia Tech can score the ball and they can shoot it really well. So our defense has certainly much improved. And we got those two stops down the stretch, especially that last one.”

On 5-1 ACC road record: “Well, it’s hard to win on the road no matter what league you’re in and it’s just a testament to our guys. They’ve improved, they’re playing together, and they’re playing very, very hard. I know Virginia Tech played hard, but so did we.”