SMU Basketball aims to take down Washington State, advance to NIT Quarterfinals
It’s the first postseason berth for Washington State since 2011 as Kyle Smith took over in March 2019 and rebuilt the program. Now the Cougars are looking to be the first team to beat SMU Basketball in Moody Coliseum all season.
ESPN+ is carrying Sunday’s 2 p.m. CT NIT second round matchup from Dallas as SMU looks to completely move past its close call against Nicholls State on Wednesday night. The Mustangs won 68-58, but with minutes to go it was just a 2-point lead for SMU.
SMU Basketball pulled away to earn a win and advance. After missing the NCAA Tournament, SMU was able to put it in the past in the end.
“Life’s not always going to go right. It tests your character and everything,” Michael Weathers said after the game. “Sunday sure did test a lot of our character. But I think we handled it the right way. Just put it in the past and moved forward, that’s all we can do.”
Washington State handled business against Santa Clara at home, winning 63-50. WSU set team NIT records with 10 three pointers, seven from Tyrell Roberts whose 23 points was the fourth most in an NIT game for the Cougs.
SMU Basketball looking to bounce back shooting
On the flip side of the hot shooting night from beyond the arc, SMU had a poor night shooting 3s in the win over Nicholls. Head coach Tim Jankovich’s team usually can knock them down from beyond the arc, but as the team recovered emotionally from missing the NCAA Tournament, its shooting suffered.
“Offensively, we missed a lot of shots,” head coach Tim Jankovich said. “Is that because psychologically they’re not all the way back or just one of those nights where you miss shots? I don’t know. I thought we missed a lot of wide open shots. We were 4-for-23 from 3. We’re a very good shooting team. We probably missed four or five layups, four at least. From an offensive standpoint, the ball didn’t go in the basket.”
Defensively, the Cougs have allowed 64.9 points per game and are 30th in the country in defensive rating at 93.9 per 100 possessions.
Washington State’s 10 blocks were a team record for an NIT game. Four of those came from Dishon Jackson. SMU guard Michael Weathers continued his impressive run of blocks with three against Nicholls, which capped his double-double.
It’ll be a week since SMU Basketball missed the NCAA Tournament and Jankovich says excuses are over.
“At some point, enough talk. We’ve talked enough, expressed enough,” Jankovich said. “We pretty much used that up and it’s time. Players play, coaches coach, let’s compete.”
If SMU can handle business, the Mustangs will face BYU on Tuesday or Wednesday. The Cougars beat Northern Iowa, 90-71, on Saturday.
