Coach on Pearson and Hop in the DMN

[LA_Mustang]

DMN - In Isham's place stepped Devon Pearson. He had 13 points in 29 minutes. He had a team-high nine rebounds, tying a career high.

"Devon is a tough kid," Tubbs said. "Devon is going to represent what SMU basketball is all about: That's toughness. We want our program to be about toughness. We've been accused of being soft, and we have to erase that stigma."

I love that.

DMN - Hopkins missed Thursday's 71-59 loss at Hawaii. In his three-year career, SMU is 0-3 without him. He means so much to the Mustangs (8-6, 3-3 WAC) that Tubbs needed him to help break the two-game losing streak against the Spartans (4-10, 1-4).

"He was tremendous," Tubbs said. "He came off the bench and sparked us without practicing all week."

I think Hop showed a lot of toughness today. We dont win that game without him.

[Pony_Fan]

Good to see Pearson stepping up. That is tough of Hopkins to play in pain....good job...

[Thumper]

No kidding - that was Hop's shooting hand, right? Scoring at all with a bad wing is tough. What he did sounds borderline heroic.
And I've always thought Pearson, in the games I've seen, showed great promise. Hopefully he's on his way to really emerging.