In 2005-06, his first season as Jacksonville University’s men’s basketball head coach, Cliff Warren guided the Dolphins to a record of 1-26. In over his head, right?

Wrong.

In the five seasons since, Warren’s teams have won 15, 18, 18, 20 and 20 games, respectively. The 20-win seasons are JU’s first since 1986.

SMU head coach Matt Doherty coached against Jacksonville head coach Cliff Warren when Doherty was coaching at Florida Atlantic (photo by judolphins.com).

“He’s a very good coach,” SMU head coach Matt Doherty said Thursday of the man who will be on the opposing bench when the Mustangs host the Dolphins at 2 p.m. Saturday in the second round of the CIT at Moody Coliseum. “He was on the bench (as an assistant coach) at Sienna when we played them when I was at Kansas, and when I was at Florida Atlantic, we played against Jacksonville.

“He has a good team at Jacksonville this year — they won 20 games again. We’re going to see a typical Cliff Warren-coached team — they’re deep, aggressive and athletic, and they’ll pressure us a lot … full-court pressure, three-quarters-court pressure. They’ll come after us, like they do everyone they play. We absolutely have to rebound and take care of the ball against them.”

SMU (18-14) advanced to Saturday’s game by beating Oral Roberts Wednesday night at Moody Coliseum; Jacksonville (20-11) earned its trip to Dallas by virtue of a 71-66 victory at East Carolina. Doherty said he consulted with ECU head coach Jeff Lebo — like Doherty, a former player at North Carolina — for a little insight into what the Mustangs can expect Saturday afternoon.

“(Lebo) said that they’re not the biggest team, but he said they’re the most physical team ECU has faced all year,” Doherty said. “They just keep coming at you.”

Leading the charge for the Dolphins is senior forward Ayron Hardy (6-5, 215), who leads his team in scoring average (12.5 points per game) and blocked shots (30), and is second on the Jacksonville team in rebounds per game (6.2) and assists (87). A solid shooter who has made 152-of-279 field goals (.545) this season, Hardy also earned first-team All-Atlantic Sun Conference honors and was named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive year.

While Hardy’s scoring total might appear modest for a team’s leading scorer, Doherty said that doesn’t mean Jacksonville’s offense is anemic.

“You can say he’s only averaging 12.5 points per game,” Doherty said, “but they have three other guys averaging nearly 10 points per game. They’ll score — they just spread it out.”

Forward Ayron Hardy leads Jacksonville in scoring and blocked shots, and is second in rebounds and assists (photo by judolphins.com).

Just as Oral Roberts brought a trigger-happy shooter to Dallas in guard Warren Niles (whom SMU limited to 13 points on 5-of-20 shooting from the floor), the Dolphins also bring a long bomber in freshman guard Keith McDougald (6-1, 206), who has hit 42 of 123 shots (.341) from long range this year.

JU enters Saturday’s game averaging 68.2 points per game — about seven points per game fewer than Oral Roberts averaged heading into Wednesday’s first-round contest. The Mustangs held ORU to about 18 points fewer than their average in Wednesday’s 64-57 win. The Golden Eagles shot 39.3 percent from the floor — 8.4 percent under their season average.

The defensive effort was key for the Ponies because of the uncertainty of their own offense, due to the back spasms that kept their leading scorer and rebounder, Papa Dia, out of the starting lineup. Dia began the game on a stationary bike at the end of the SMU bench, and when his back loosened up, he was able to take the floor and contribute 17 points, 15 rebounds and five blocked shots.

“I didn’t know if I would be able to go or not,” Dia said Thursday. “When we warmed up, I really didn’t think I could go. But after I got warm on the bike, I felt good.”

Doherty said the fact that Saturday’s game will be in Moody helps the Mustangs in two ways.

“It limits (Jacksonville) a little because they found out Wednesday night they were coming here, and they have to travel Thursday or Friday,” Doherty said. “Plus, ‘Pop’ gets to spend another night in his own bed, rather than having to sit on a plane for a few hours. Hopefully that will help us.”

Dia and Doherty both gave credit to trainer Warren Young and the team medical staff for getting Dia’s back loose enough to play Wednesday night. Dia said he didn’t even require excess postgame maintenance, and sounded optimistic that his back will cooperate enough to let him play Saturday against the Dolphins.

Papa Dia said he expects he will be ready to play Saturday when the Ponies host Jacksonville (photo by Travis Johnston).

“Nothing extra,” he said when asked about the treatment he received after the game. “I just got some ice and went home. I think I’ll be ready Saturday.”

The Mustangs didn’t admit to any real frustration leading into Wednesday’s game, even though they had lost their previous four contests by a combined nine points. But Dia said that the victory over the Golden Eagles Wednesday gave the Ponies’ confidence a significant lift.

“We got that monkey off our backs,” he said. “At the end (of regulation), I thought, ‘oh no, not again.’ But we got over that hump in overtime and won the game, and that gave us a lot of confidence. We needed to win, and we made it happen.”

Doherty also was pleased with the outcome, of course, and was encouraged by the fact that his team won without turning in its best performance.

“We didn’t play great against Oral Roberts, and we still came out of that game with a victory,” Doherty said. “But if we’re going to advance, if we’re going to go deep in this thing, we have to play better. Hopefully (Dia) will be ready Saturday, and hopefully we can do that.”