Andy Enfield shares keys to slowing Maxime Raynaud, looks at SMU's improved defensive effort

SMU Basketball coach Andy Enfield spoke with the media Monday ahead of Wednesday’s matchup at Virginia Tech. Here’s what Enfield shared with reporters on the ACC Coaches Teleconference.

On how SMU’s managed to succeed in conference: “Well, our guys have really come together as a team. They share the basketball, leading the league in scoring and assists. We had 20 assists on Saturday. It’s a big focal point of our offense. Boopie Miller, our point guard, had 10 himself. Really starting to make plays for his teammates and our other guards are getting bigs of the ball when they’re open. And then defensively, we’ve really improved. We were not very good defensively to start the season, to hold teams to 40 percent from the field in league. I think we’re right there, first, second or third. I think we’re tied for second in field goal percent defense in the league.

“When you can do it on one end, share the ball, and defend at a pretty high level, at least make it challenging, for the other team to take contested shots throughout the game. It certainly is a recipe for success, as long as you can rebound the ball. We’ve been sporadic in that. But in general, to answer your question, other than the offense/defense, our players have really bought into playing together. And with 10 new guys, it took a while for them to figure out how to best play together, if that makes sense. And so we’re proud of them, but we have a lot of basketball left, and we hope it can continue. 

On if he feels like SMU is ahead of schedule: “I don’t think, Mark, you can anticipate how you’re going to be because with 10 new players, seven transfers, Samet didn’t join us till late in the summer, or actually the first day of class. So we just had a completely new team. I think in today’s environment, it’s hard to really plan for the future too far in advance because of the transfer portal, the NIL, and guys moving schools year-to-year. So I think you just have to try to build your best team possible every single season. And that’s what we did here at SMU when we got the job in the spring and the summer. Then when you get everybody together in the fall, you just try to help them get to know each other as quickly as possible and have a team that plays like a team.”

On who’s been key in defensive improvement: “Well, our guards are playing much better on the ball, they’re getting over ball screens, they’re tougher, they’re in the gaps. BJ Edwards leads the league in steals, but Boopie Miller and Chuck Harris, Kario Oquendo really improved their perimeter defense, their toughness. Matt Cross is as tough as it gets physically in the league and and then Samet is improved a lot. Yohan Traore and Jarrell Colbert off the bench, they come with some great energy and Keon Ambrose-Hylton, but Samet has improved his post defense in his reactions. It took a while for him to get a feel for the athleticism and the speed of the game here. Never played college basketball. Once he did that and worked on his ball screen techniques and his post defense, he’s certainly improved.”

On Virginia Tech: “A great shooting team. They can score the ball at a lot of different positions and they’re dangerous at the three. I think they made 10 or more threes, four out of the last five games. They have some good players. Of course, their big guy, Tobi Lawal, is as athletic as I’ve seen a long time in college basketball. And their shooting is really impressive.”

On SMU slowing Stanford big Maxime Raynaud: “I think our players knew how dangerous he was and we had great energy. We had a great crowd for Saturday afternoon, late afternoon game and our guards helped out and then our big guys guarded him. Samet was very agile on his feet. He played very hard. We just tried to challenge every shot he took. He’s so dangerous because he can pick and pop at the three. He can put it on the floor. He shot fakes, gets in the lane, and then of course he can post up. So we just tried to challenge everything, make it hard on him, try to be physical if he was in the post, but also get a hand in his face when he shot that mid range or three.”