Tim Jankovich says SMU needs reset following loss to Houston ahead of big week

After SMU’s loss to Houston, head coach Tim Jankovich wants his team to wipe this game from its memory, he told Rich Phillips on the SMU postgame radio show. It’s a good time for a “reset” after being outrebounded the way the Mustangs were on Sunday.

In the 75-61 loss, Tim Jankovich said the Cougars just took over on the glass. Outrebounded 49-25, Houston earned 15 more attempts from the field as the Mustangs couldn’t get anything going.

“That was the whole game,” Tim Jankovich said. “Anybody watching the game could see that we literally couldn’t get a rebound on the defensive end. It’s really disappointing. There was a lot of opportunity here in this game. We didn’t get it done. I give Houston credit. They were so dominant on the boards last year. This year, they’ve been negated at times. At our place, we were able to negate the rebounding.

“Unfortunately, that gave us no chance. You look at our defensive numbers, they’re plenty good enough to win. We have a rough offensive game, too. I don’t think you’re going to win when you give up that many rebounds. We give up a lot of size to them, but we give up a lot of size every game. Their board coverage was just dominant over ours.”

Tim Jankovich’s team didn’t have a forward in double figures scoring or a player above four rebounds. Meanwhile, Josh Carlton and Fabian White combined for 40 points and 17 rebounds.

The start to the second half was encouraging, but not sustained. SMU Basketball closed it to an 8-point Houston lead, but couldn’t get over the hump.

“We had a great rhythm,” Jankovich recalled. “Obviously, it really hurt us when Marcus got his fouls. We were putting them in a scramble situation. Our defense was holding. Felt a lot like the last game. Everything is right under control. They had a couple really good offensive possessions. We were changing defenses. Mostly, what a frustrating — shot after shot, they get back.”

Tim Jankovich hoping for reset ahead of final games

For Tim Jankovich, managing the team’s mindset after a rough loss is important. He hopes it brings a “reset” for the team before matchups against Cincinnati and Tulane before the AAC Tournament. Despite being undersized, SMU rebounds well most nights, but Sunday’s game against the top team in the league didn’t show that.

While learning from the loss to the Top 25 Cougars, it’s time for the team to turn the page. SMU returns to action against the Bearcats on Thursday in Moody Coliseum.

“I think it’s really important. There’s so much left in front of us,” he said. “We need to marinate on why we lost. The whole bus trip back, we need to be really angry about what we did not get done. We need to sting about that. Tomorrow when we wake up, we need to remember it, but not dwell on it because we have a huge week ahead.

“Hopefully, there is a lesson here that we can’t afford one single game the rest of the year even remotely close on the boards. We have been winning or controlling the boards this year. We got to be even more committed than we thought.”

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