In the first three games of the CIT, the SMU men’s basketball team has held each of its opponents — Oral Roberts, Jacksonville and Northern Iowa — under their season average shooting percentages, and head coach Matt Doherty has made no secret of the fact that he is proud of the Mustangs’ defense.

The Ponies have been exceptionally stingy with their perimeter defense, and if they are to advance to the CIT’s championship game, they will need to turn in another strong defensive performance — especially on the perimeter — when the Santa Clara Broncos come to Moody Coliseum at 7 p.m. Friday.

Nobody in the country has taken or made more three-pointers this season than Santa Clara guard Kevin Foster (photo by Santa Clara athletics).

Sophomore guard Kevin Foster (6-2, 219) has the quickest trigger of all of the Broncos. The Katy, Texas, native has taken — and made — more three-pointers this season than any player in the country.

Consider the fact that junior SMU forward Robert Nyakundi leads the Mustangs from long range, connecting on 93 of 190 three-pointers this season. Meanwhile, Foster has hit 132 of 355 shots from behind the arc, and leads the Broncos in scoring with an average of 19.7 points per game. (He also ranks first in steals, with 57.)

If that wasn’t enough, Foster is joined in the SC backcourt by freshman guard Evan Roquemore (6-3, 165), the team’s third-leading scorer (11.7 points per game) and second-leading shooter on three-pointers, having hit 51 of 127 shots from long range.

Doherty said that while Foster and Roquemore present a daunting challenge for the SMU defense, it’s not like Santa Clara is the first team to send guards who can score at the Ponies’ defense.

“Their guards are really good,” Doherty said. “But Northern Iowa had very good guards, Jacksonville had good guards, Oral Roberts had guards who can score. We have to play well on the defensive end.”

Doherty said that neither Roquemore nor Foster is the Broncos’ clear-cut point guard or shooting guard. Each is a “combo guard” who can handle the ball or let fly with long shots.

“Northern Iowa did a great job preparing us for Santa Clara, because they have good guards, too,” said senior guard Collin Mangrum, one of the Mustangs’ guards who will be responsible for guarding Foster and Roquemore Friday night. “(Foster and Roquemore) can both score, especially No. 21 (Foster). We really have to pick them up and get hands in their faces.”

Mangrum said both of the SC guards are threats (they also rank first and third on the Broncos in assists, with 131 and 133, respectively) but admitted that on the film the Mustangs have seen, Foster, in particular, stands out.

“The guy can really shoot,” Mangrum said. “He’s got NBA range on his three-point shot. We’ll have our hands full with both of those guys.”

Despite the fact that the Mustangs have had some success defending guards during their victories in the first three rounds of the tournament, Mangrum declined to suggest that the fact that Santa Clara gets so many points from its guards makes the Broncos an ideal opponent against SMU’s improved perimeter defense.

Former UCLA assistant Kerry Keating is in his fourth season as head coach at Santa Clara (photo by Santa Clara athletics).

“I don’t know that there is such a thing as a perfect matchup,” Mangrum said. “To get this far in the tournament, you have to be playing pretty well, so they’re going to challenge us. But we have done a pretty good job defensively, and hopefully we can do that again against Santa Clara.”

Doherty was quick to point out that while Foster and Roquemore might garner many of the headlines, the Broncos are not just a one-dimensional team that relies solely on perimeter shooting.

“(Santa Clara forward) Marc Trasolini (6-9, 235) is a good player,” Doherty said of the Broncos’ third player whose scoring average is in double digits. “He’s their second-leading scorer (13.2 points per game) and he’s their best rebounder (with 206, or a team-high 6.1 per game). He’s a good shooter who likes to face the basket a lot. He’s sort of a ‘pick and pop’ guy — he’s a lot like (Nyakundi).”

Doherty also said that senior SMU forward/center Papa Dia, whose defensive responsibilities will include guarding Trasolini, no longer is feeling any discomfort in his back, and should be ready to play the Broncos Friday.

Teams that rely so much on long-range shooting can be hard to defend, Doherty said, and not just because of the points they can generate from behind the three-point line.

“Against a team like Santa Clara, we have to take care of the ball, and we have to rebound the ball,” he said. “But with a team that likes to shoot the three as much as they do, we have to rebound smart. With long shots, if you crash the ball, the other team can get a lot of rebounds because the ball kicks out over you. So our perimeter defenders not only have to get a hand up on their shooters, they also have to be ready to turn around and come back to the rim, where hopefully they can get some long rebounds.”

Doherty said that getting to the semifinals — the fourth round of the tournament — means both teams are playing well, and said it’s impossible to say one team has more momentum going into Friday’s game than the other.

“At this point, we both have momentum,” Doherty said, “or we wouldn’t be this far along. We’re very glad to be playing at home again, practicing in our own practice facility and sleeping in our own beds. Hopefully it pays off Friday night.