Andy Enfield talks SMU win over LSU

SMU head coach Andy Enfield spoke with the media after the win over LSU on Saturday. Here’s some of what he said and the full video below.

Opening statement: “It’s a very important win for us. This was like our ACC-SEC challenge. Because we’re new to the league, we weren’t able to play in it this year, so we felt like this was our SEC- ACC challenge. It was great on a neutral court against a very good LSU basketball team.”

On the change for SMU in the 2nd half: “Defensively, we played much better in the second half. On offense, we shared the basketball. I thought our offense in the first half, the ball was sticking too much. We had open guys, just weren’t getting the ball to the right player at the right time. We held onto it. We took some tough, bad shots and enabled LSU to get out and transition in the first half. We did not play well offensively at all in the first half. Not like we’ve been doing all season. In the second half, we shared the ball and ended the game with 20 assists so very proud of our players for learning something in that first half and coming out the second half and playing team basketball.”

On if it was an adjustment or reiterating game plan: “Well, I don’t raise my voice very often, but sometimes you have to get your team’s attention and so they came out and executed and played together on both ends of the floor and I thought our team played outstanding basketball for a full 20 minutes.”

On physicality in the front court for SMU vs. LSU: “Well they’re hard to guard because they’re so athletic and they’re big guys, crash the boards and we just had tried to keep bodies on them and then we did a pretty good job rebounding the ball. We outrebounded them, especially in the offensive end. Had 13 offensive (rebounds). Matt Cross had 16 rebounds, which is a lot. LSU’s an outstanding basketball team. They have some really good wins already this season and we knew it would be a tough game for us and it was.” 

On SMU F Matt Cross: “Well, he’s playing great basketball. He hurt himself the first play of the first game. He had a serious back injury for about two weeks, and then it took him another 10 days to come back. In the meantime, we played some games, and he just wasn’t very effective. And since that time, once he’s been back, he’s in much better shape condition-wise. He’s extremely tough, as you see. His wall-up and transition where Chest came down, was going to dunk the ball, and he stood there and took the contact, and the ball went out of bounds. That’s a big-time basketball play. That’s just toughness. And that was a big part of the game. The ball went out of bounds. They got the ball back. But just to stand there and take that contact when a guy’s coming full speed at you is impressive.”

On SMU big man Samet Yigitoglu getting more comfortable: “Well, when I said our team has improved in the last month, he’s a big reason why. He is doing things now that he didn’t do a month ago or a month and a half ago. He’s really improved. He’s learning the defensive schemes. He’s learning the college game. Offensively, Coach Mobley works with him. He’s a big man coach and Coach Ford and Coach Morris. They spend a lot of time with our guys and I think it’s showing on the court. Feeling more comfortable, more skilled, and then defensively kind of getting a feel for the college game.”