Men's basketball improves to 2-0

[PonyPride]

Hancock leads SMU past Navy, 81-64
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Senior guard Damon Hancock hit 8-of-12 shots from the floor en route to a 21-point performance, leading the SMU men's basketball team past Navy, 81-64, Sunday afternoon at Moody Coliseum.

"Damon and Quinton Ross were very good today," SMU head coach Mike Dement said of Hancock and Ross, who chipped in 17 points. "But I liked our scoring balance better than in the first game."

In addition to Hancock and Ross, the offense was led by freshman forward Patrick Simpson, who had 12 points to go along with four rebounds and four blocked shots, and sophomore forward Kris Lowe, who scored nine points.

"I've said before that Patrick Simpson is going to be a very good player for us," Dement said. "In fact, I'd like to see him take more outside shots. He's a freshman, so there will be games where he gets four blocks and there will be games where he gets called for four fouls. How he handles that is going to be what's important."

The Ponies started out well, jumping to a double-digit lead early in the first half. But the Midshipmen refused to fold, hanging in the game thanks in large part to the long-range shooting of reserve forward Jamie Nero, who drilled all four first-half three-point attempts.

"Nero was incredible -- it seemed like everything he threw up went in," Dement said. "And on two of those, we had guys hanging on him. He shot the ball really well for them."

Nero finished the game with a team-high 17 points, including five three-pointers.

The Mustangs lost Hancock for a few minutes in the second half when he got cramps in his right leg, but after a quick trip to the locker room for an IV, Hancock returned to the floor and helped the Ponies finish off the Midshipmen.

"That stretch was really important," Dement said. "I've always said it will be important to see how we do if something happens to Damon, or to 'Q' (Ross). We had an eight-point lead, or a nine-point lead and we held it while he was out. We even pushed it up a little. That was very encouraging."

For the second game, the Ponies struggled from the free-throw line, at least in the first half, when they hit only 4-of-12 from the charity stripe.

"We've got to hit our free throws better than we did," Ross said. "They were as physical, probably, as any team we'll see all year. But we shot better in the second half (SMU hit 18-of-23 free throws after the intermission). We'll be OK there."

The game sets up the Ponies showdown Tuesday night with Texas Tech at Moody Coliseum, meaning the arrival of new Tech coach Bobby Knight. Hancock said he will be excited, but doesn't expect to be in awe when Knight comes to Moody.

"It's not just the young guys -- I'll be pretty riled up," Hancock said. "I respect him, because he's a good coach. But I'm playing against him, so I won't respect him too much. They're going to get after us, especially on their defense. Every Indiana game I watched when he coached there, they really got after the other team with their defense, and that's what I expect will happen here Tuesday night."

Dement said the decision for the Red Raiders to play the Ponies in Dallas originated in Lubbock -- and originated with Knight himself.

"He said he wanted to play all the old Southwest (Conference) teams, so they called us, they called TCU, they called Houston," Dement said. "(SMU athletic director) Jim Copeland came into my office and told me (Tech AD) Gerald Myers had called, and that they wanted to play us this year, and they were willing to play here in our place. I joked with Jim that he turned blue blowing the ink dry on that contract.

"I'm the one who suggested we make this a four-year contract. Ask me in four years if I think that was a good idea."

The Red Raiders are led by forward/center Andy Ellis, who Dement said will present matchup problems for the Ponies.

"We recruited him so hard," Dement said of Ellis. "He's one of the best big men we'll face all year. He's not just a post played -- he can step out and shoot the jumper. We may need to go with our bigger guys (centers Jon Forinash and Nigel Smith) instead of Patrick Simpson and Eric Castro (each of whom has started both of SMU's first two games), depending on whether they try to go down low with Andy or have him step out.

"But at the same time, we're not going to escape the atmosphere and let this game get away from us. This is an extremely valuable game for us, for our young guys, in terms of experiencing a big-game atmosphere, in terms of facing a top big man like Ellis. The young guys will learn a lot in a game like this.

"(Former SMU and current Baylor head coach) Dave Bliss talked in an article I read about Coach Knight and his presence. Coach Knight is a legend. We've got to be careful that our young players don't react to his celebrity. He's going to affect the game, and we have to be careful how we handle that."

Tipoff is at 7:35 Tuesday night.

[Pony_Fan]

Good show Mustangs! Simpson is going to be a good player. I like Miller too. He will be able to play. I agree it was nice to see the guys keep the lead with Hancock out so long.
Hit those FT's!

Beat TECH!!