EDIT: Ira Terrell Take - cusa-fans.com

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Year-End Boost
SMU Stops Three-Game Skid, Dumps Army, 71-63
By Rick Atkinson for cusa-fans.com
http://www.cusa-fans.com/

DALLAS – Reeling from three straight losses at the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu and with growing message board chatter to fire fourth-year coach Matt Doherty, SMU responded on Wednesday with a 71-63 win over 9-2 Army.

The loss ended the Black Knights’ four-game win streak.

SMU (5-6) led 34-22 at the half and by 16 points with 8:14 left to play before Army got back in the game - as Texas State did in the Mustangs’ last home appearance.

Army trailed by just four points, 67-63, with 17 seconds left before guard Derek Williams sank the last two of his six straight free throws in the final 30 seconds to secure SMU’s win.

It was the Mustangs’ first victory over the Black Knights in three tries dating back to 1965.

Julian Simmons and Josh Miller led Army with 14 points each. SMU was 18-of-22 from the free throw line and Army hit a perfect 12-of-12.

Williams, who didn’t start after missing a team breakfast, responded to SMU coach Matt Doherty’s discipline with a team-high 20 points. A surging Papa Dia added 19 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots for the Mustangs in a dominant performance at center.

Forwards Mouhammad Faye and Justin Haynes had 12 and 10 points, respectively, with 10 of Faye’s points coming in the first half.

SMU great Ira Terrell, the Southwest Conference Player of the Year in 1975-76 and three-time All-SWC center, offered these words after the game.

“Anytime you can get a win, you’re happy,” Terrell said. “[SMU] did a lot of good things early. You like to be able to put a team away when you really get a chance to put them away, but when you come away with a win, you come away with a win.”

“The guys looked like they put forth the effort.”

Terrell liked what he saw from Dia. “I think he was playing well on both ends,” he said. “He didn’t force anything, to my knowledge. He blocked a number of shots and changed a number of shots, even though that doesn’t show up in the stats. That’s just as important. And he let the game come to him.”

“When he had an opportunity to go one-on-one, he made his shots. And when he saw the double-team coming he was able to look over the defense and make a good pass to his teammates.”

“You want to become a complete player. You don’t want to become just one-dimensional. And it was good to see him do that.”

Terrell also praised Williams, coming off the bench. “A lot of people like to start, but you want to finish,” Terrell said. “He looked like he was totally under control. He shot the threes well. Coming into the game I think he’d only made three 3s all year and he made three tonight.”



Doherty’s Take

“Our big focus was defense,” Doherty said. “And I thought we did a good job defensively, holding them to 38 percent [overall] and 28 percent [3-point] from the field.”

“Then, on the flip side, [we shot] 51 percent. They’re eleventh in the country in field goal percentage defense. Granted they didn’t play maybe the schedule that we’ve played, but still they’ve played some people and done some good things, especially against a team like Harvard, who’s been really good over the last couple of years.”

“I was concerned about the psyche of our players after our trip to Hawaii,” Doherty said. “I knew it was going to be tough, because there were good teams in that field. … I thought we came out great [tonight.]”

“Pop’s been unbelievable,” Doherty said of Dia. “This is the Papa Dia that we thought we were getting when we recruited him. He’s really growing and maturing. Confidence is just oozing out of his pores.”

Doherty said he doesn’t yell at Dia anymore. “I just talk to him, tell him what I want. And if he doesn’t deliver it, he won’t start. That, along with his maturity, and I think [assistant coach] Reggie Geary has done a real good job working with our post players. … I think it’s a combination of all those things.”

“Over the last couple of years, I’ve learned with Pop that you’ve got to talk in calm tones and just be up front and sometimes maybe not even approach him.”

Doherty said Haynes is also blossoming into what he expected, “a lock-down defender who’s got a quick first step.”

Doherty said he liked the way Williams handled not starting. “He didn’t pout. He didn’t hang his head. He came out and a wonderful game.”

The Real McCoy?

Paul McCoy, SMU’s leading scorer last year, had four points against Army as his mysterious slump continues. “We have yet to play [this year] where Paul McCoy is operating on all cylinders,” Doherty said. “If we had a normal, average Paul McCoy - not to put pressure on him - but we’d probably be 8-3.”

“Paul has got to figure it out,” Doherty said of his sophomore guard. “He’s another guy - I’m not going to yell at him when he throws the ball out of bounds. He knows he made a mistake. He’s just got to get in the flow and see things.”

Said Terrell, “I’m still kind of waiting on Paul McCoy to show up as the Paul McCoy we saw last year. I have no idea what’s going on but I’m not seeing what we saw last year. I’m not throwing him under the bus, I’m just not seeing it.”

Terrell said SMU’s performance this night was important after the Mustangs’ recent disappointing tournament outing. “You obviously didn’t play well over in Hawaii. It was a tough loss against College of Charleston, but the other two games - they played well in spots against UNLV, but the last game against Northeastern, they just did not play well at all.”

“If you can’t back come home, on your own floor, sleeping on your own bed, and make it happen, it won’t happen,” Terrell said. “So this was very good. They gave a lot of energy.”

“Tonight it looked like they really put things together and hopefully they can use this, go down to Texas State – that’s not going to be an easy game – and hopefully get that one. And it certainly won’t be easy when you go to UTEP next week.”

Notes:
*Army’s only previous visit to SMU was on December 23, 1967, a 70-66 Black Knight win. Army also defeated the Mustangs on December 18, 1965 at the Vanderbilt Invitational in Nashville, Tenn.
*Doherty, on playing Army: “It’s a real honor and a privilege to be on the floor with the cadets of West Point. If you read some of the bios and the game notes, some of these seniors have their assignments already, what they’re going to do, and where they’re going to go. These guys are doing unbelievable things for our country.”
*Next two for SMU: Saturday, Jan.2, at Texas State; Wednesday, Jan. 6, at UTEP.


Paul McCoy, left, guards Army's Jeremy Hence