Game thread: MBB vs. Washington State

[PonyPride]

SMU Hosts Washington State In NIT Second Round Sunday 2pm

NIT – Second Round
No. 1 SMU (24-8, 13-4 American 2nd) vs No. 4 Washington State (20-14, 11-9 Pac-12 T-5th)
Moody Coliseum – Dallas, Texas
March 20, 2022 – 2 p.m. CT
TV: ESPN+

[PonyPride]

No. 1 seed SMU hosts No. 4 seed Washington State in the second round of the 2022 National Invitation Tournament on Sunday.

The Mustangs are 24-8, including a 17-0 record in Moody Coliseum after a 68-58 win over Nicholls in the first round of the NIT on Wednesday. The 19-game home winning streak is tied for third nationally among active streaks. SMU was 13-4 in American Athletic Conference play, earning the No. 2 seed in the AAC Championship. The Mustangs have won 21 of their last 26 games.

Michael Weathers and Marcus Weathers both had double-doubles in the first-round win over Nicholls. Michael Weathers had 16 points and a career-high 12 rebounds while Marcus Weathers also scored 16 with 11 rebounds. Kendric Davis added 10 points and four assists while Emmanuel Bandoumel added eight points and eight rebounds. The Mustangs held Nicholls to 35.3% from the field.

SMU IN THE NIT: This is the fifth postseason and third NIT for SMU since 2014. The Mustangs were a No. 1 seed in 2014 and reached the NIT championship game. SMU was a No. 3 seed in the 16-team 2021 NIT.

KENDRIC DAVIS NAMED AAC PLAYER OF THE YEAR, MARCUS WEATHERS ALL-AAC SECOND TEAM: Kendric Davis was named the AAC Player of the Year and Marcus Weathers was selected All-AAC Second Team. Davis was the only unanimous All-AAC First-Team honoree. Davis was AAC Player of the Week three times this season and on the AAC Weekly Honor Roll seven times. Weathers was named AAC Player of the Week twice this season. SMU has the most AAC Player of the Year awards (4) and All-AAC selections (19) in league history. Davis joins Nic Moore (2014-15, 2015-16) and Semi Ojeleye (2016-17) as Mustangs to win AAC Player of the Year. Weathers is the 13th Mustang to earn All-AAC honors. Davis' Player of the Year selection is the 13th in program history. He is also the 20th Mustang with multiple first-team all-conference honors.

KENDRIC DAVIS HONORS IN 2021-22: In addition to AAC Player of the Year and unanimous All-AAC First Team, Kendric Davis was named NABC All-District, USBWA All-District and a member of the Naismith Trophy Midseason Team (1 of 30). He was also selected unanimous preseason All-American Athletic Conference First Team, named to the Naismith Trophy Watch List, the Wooden Award Preseason 50 Watch List, the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Watch List and the Lute Olson Player of the Year Award Watch List. This season, he has been national player of the week (Jan. 3) and earned a total of 10 AAC Weekly Honors (3x Player of the Week, 7x Weekly Honor Roll).

UNDEFEATED AT HOME: SMU is 17-0 at home this season, and has won 19 straight at Moody Coliseum (T-3rd NCAA active streaks). The Mustangs have wins in 38 of the last 42 games at Moody Coliseum. SMU has finished undefeated at home five previous times: 1916-17 (8-0), 1937-38 (5-0), 1954-55 (9-0), 1955-56 (10-0), 2016-17 (18-0).

SMU AMONG AAC LEADERS: SMU is second in The American in threes made (8. and third in 3-point percentage (35.8%). Two Mustangs are among the AAC leaders in threes per game with Kendric Davis making 2.4 (7th AAC) and Emmanuel Bandoumel at 2.2 (8th AAC). The Mustangs lead the AAC in defensive rebounds (28.4, 11th NCAA), rank third in scoring at 74.2 points, third in FG% (44.2%), third in FG% defense (39.6%, 23rd NCAA) and fourth in FT% (74.6%).

Kendric Davis is leading the AAC in scoring (19.1, 41st NCAA). He is in the top five in the league in field-goal percentage (43.6%, 4th AAC), free-throw percentage (86.1%, 2nd AAC, 48th NCAA) and assists (4.5, 3rd AAC). Davis is also ranked in the league for assist-to-turnover ratio (1.7, 9th AAC), 3FGs made (2.4, 7th AAC) and steals (1.5, 12th AAC). Marcus Weathers leads SMU in rebounding (7.6, 2nd AAC) and double-doubles (8, 2nd AAC). Michael Weathers is ranked in the AAC in blocked shots (1.5, 5th AAC), steals (1.6, 8th AAC) and rebounds (5.9, 11th AAC). Emmanuel Bandoumel is averaging 10.8 points and Michael Weathers is averaging 10.8 to give the Mustangs four players averaging double figures in scoring.

QUICK HITS

• Franklin Agunanne has played in 22 games this season, totaling 26 points and 39 rebounds. He had season highs of 8 points and 7 rebounds in the win vs Memphis Feb. 20. He also had 4 points, 3 rebounds and an assist in the win at Memphis.

• Emmanuel Bandoumel is averaging 10.8 points while hitting 35.9% on 3FGs (70-195) and making 2.2 threes per game (8th AAC). He had a career-high six threes (and career-best 23 points) at ECU on Feb. 12. He has hit at least four threes nine times this season (SMU is 8-1). In 2020-21, he averaged 10.2 points (24th AAC), 2.9 rebounds and 1.4 assists while shooting 36.4% from three (14th AAC) and 73.3% on FTs. He had a then-career-high 19 points, including the buzzer-beating game winner for a 66-64 victory at Dayton on Dec. 5, 2020. He also hit the game-winning 3FG in overtime for a 73-72 victory over [20/19] Houston on Feb. 15, 2020.

• Tristan Clark (2019-20 Karl Malone Watch List) is averaging 4.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 0.8 blocked shots while shooting 70.0% from the field (49-70).

• Kendric Davis (2021-22 AAC Player of the Year, All-AAC First Team, NABC All-District First Team, USBWA All-District, Naismith Trophy Midseason Team, Preseason All-AAC First Team, Bob Cousy PG of the Year Watch List, Lute Olson Player of the Year Watch List, Naismith Trophy Watch List, Wooden Award Watch List, March Madness National Player of the Week [J3], Lute Olson Award National Player of the Week [J3], AAC Player of the Week [N22, D6, D20], AAC Weekly Honor Roll [N29, D13, J3, J17, J24, F21, F28] - 2020-21 All-AAC First Team, NABC All-District First Team, USBWA All-District, Lute Olson National Player of the Year Mid-Season Watch List, ESPN Player of the Week [D7], AAC Player of the Week [D7, F15], AAC Weekly Honor Roll [N30, D21, J4, J11, J25, F8]) is averaging 19.1 points (1st AAC, 41st NCAA), 3.8 rebounds, 1.5 steals (12th AAC), 4.5 assists (3rd AAC) with a 1.7 assist/turnover ratio (9th AAC) and hitting 43.6% on FGs (4th AAC), 86.1% on FTs (2nd AAC) and 37.7% 3FGs with 2.4 3FGs per game (7th AAC). In 2020-21, he averaged 19.0 points (1st AAC) and 7.6 assists (1st AAC, 4th NCAA), 1.6 steals (4th AAC) with a 3.2 assist-to-turnover ratio (1st AAC, 10th NCAA). He was also among the league leaders in FG% (48.1, 7th), 3FG% (37.3, 12th AAC) and FT% (83.3, 5th AAC). He had 5 points-assists double-doubles last season. He has 5 or more assists in 34 of 43 games as a Mustang. He set the AAC record with 14 assists vs Cincinnati 1/7. In 2019-20, he averaged 14.2 points (8th AAC) and an AAC-best 6.7 assists (10th NCAA) with 4.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals. He was 88-103 on FTs (85.4%, 2nd AAC). His assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.7 led the AAC and ranked 19th nationally. Davis led The American in scoring and assists in 2020-21. He was the only player in the country to lead his league in both.

• Tyler Lundblade (2020-21 McDonald's All-American nominee) is redshirting this season. He was awarded a scholarship on Jan. 19 as Semi Ojeleye, 2017 AAC Player of the Year and current member of the Los Angeles Clippers, delivered a recorded message to the team after practice and announced the news.

• Isiah Jasey started 15 of the first 16 games (missed game at Tulsa, and suffered a season-ending right Achilles injury vs USF 1/12). He averaged 1.1 blocked shots (8th AAC at the time of injury) and 2.9 rebounds. He had a career-high 4 blocked shots in the win versus Dayton 12/8. Last season, he started 15 of 17 games. He finished 6th in the AAC in blocked shots (1.0) while adding 3.6 points and 3.8 rebounds in 18.1 minutes per contest.

• Darius McBride has made 10 appearances this season.

• Zach Nutall (2020-21 Southland Conference Player of the Year at Sam Houston) is averaging 6.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.5 assists while hitting 32.5% on 3FG (49-151).

• Zhuric Phelps (2021-22 AAC Freshman of the Week [D13], 2020-21 Texas Mr. Basketball) is averaging 4.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 0.9 steals. He had 17 points in the win vs USF (1/12) and 13 points in the win vs Dayton (12/1). His 5 steals in the win vs ULM on Nov. 28 were the most by an SMU freshman since Feb. 19, 2011 (Jeremiah Samarrippas had 6 vs Tulsa).

• Jalen Smith has started 8 of 28 games played. He is averaging 2.0 points and is 14-36 on 3FGs.

• Stefan Todorovic (Nike Hoop Summit, Serbian U19 Team) is averaging 3.0 points and hitting 43.5% from three in his freshman season (20-46).

• Marcus Weathers (2021-22 All-AAC Second Team, NABC All-District Second Team, AAC Player of the Week [J31, F14], 2-time All-A-10 at Duquesne) has 8 doubles-doubles (2nd AAC). He is averaging 12.9 points (16th AAC), 7.6 rebounds (2nd AAC) and 0.7 blocks while hitting 51.5% on FGs and 71.3% on FTs (13th AAC). He is also 21-62 on threes (33.9%).

• Michael Weathers (2021-22 AAC Player of the Week [M7], 2020-21 SWAC Newcomer of the Year at Texas Southern) is contributing 10.8 points, 5.9 rebounds (11th AAC), 2.2 assists, 1.6 steals (8th AAC) and 1.5 blocks (5th AAC) [tied AAC Tournament record 7 blocks in quarterfinal vs Tulsa] while hitting 79.8% on free throws (7th AAC).

• Jahmar Young Jr. is adding 2.1 points, 1.7 rebounds and 0.6 blocks.

• SMU is 125-63 under Tim Jankovich and 86-17 (.835) at Moody Coliseum. The home winning percentage is the highest in program history (minimum 2 seasons). The Mustangs are 38-4 at Moody Coliseum since the start of 2019-20.

• SMU is 60-15 in regular-season non-conference games under Tim Jankovich. The Mustangs are 49-4 at Moody Coliseum in those games, 3-6 in neutral-site games and 8-5 in true road games.

• SMU is 86-50 in AAC play since the start of 2014-15. The Mustangs are 53-15 at Moody Coliseum.

• SMU held 18 of 32 opponents under 40%. The Mustangs are 16-2 this season and 77-10 under Tim Jankovich when holding opponents at or below 40%.

• SMU shot a better percentage than 22 of 32 opponents so far this season. SMU is 20-2 this season and 111-11 under Tim Jankovich when outshooting an opponent.

• The Mustangs had five double-digit scorers in the win over Northwestern State. The Mustangs have had 4 score in double figures in 15 games this season. SMU is 14-1 this season and 82-15 under Tim Jankovich when at least four score 10+.

• The Mustangs have received votes in the AP Top 25 (two weeks, last Feb. 21) and USA Today Coaches Poll (four weeks, last Feb. 21) this season. SMU has been ranked or receiving votes in the AP Top 25 and/or the USA Today Coaches Poll in eight of the past nine seasons (2013-14 to 2021-22).

• SMU has 8 wins against AP Top 25 teams under Tim Jankovich (22 games). That is second at SMU. Doc Hayes had 13 from 1947-67.

• SMU has won four total American Athletic Conference Championships, winning the regular season and tournament titles in 2015 and 2017.

• The Mustangs have 19 All-American Athletic Conference honorees, the highest in the AAC, in the first nine seasons of the league. That includes six first-team selections. The Mustangs also have the most AAC Player of the Year winners with 4 (Nic Moore, 2014-15, 2015-16; Semi Ojeleye 2016-17; Kendric Davis 2021-22).

• SMU has had three players selected in the NBA Draft since 2017. Sterling Brown and Semi Ojeleye in 2017 and Shake Milton in 2018. Jahmal McMurray was selected in the 2019 NBA G-League Draft. Ben Moore played for Indiana, San Antonio and in the G-League for Fort Wayne, the affiliate of the Indiana Pacers. Feron Hunt recently (3/18) signed a two-way contract with the New York Knicks after spending most of the season with the the Texas Legends, the G-League affiliate for the Mavericks. Hunt spent the 2021-22 preseason with the Dallas Mavericks and signed a 10-day contract with the New Orleans Pelicans (12/28).

NIT FIRST ROUND (W, 68-58 vs Nicholls on March 16): DALLAS (AP) — Michael Weathers had 16 points and 12 rebounds and Marcus Weathers recorded 16 points and 11 rebounds as SMU got past Nicholls State 68-58 in the NIT first round. Kendric Davis had 10 points for SMU (24-8). Emmanuel Bandoumel added eight rebounds. Devante Carter had 20 points and seven assists for the Colonels (21-12). Latrell Jones added 18 points and Manny Littles had 10 rebounds.

THE SERIES VS. WASHINGTON STATE: First Meeting

BIG-SHOT BANDOUMEL: Emmanuel Bandoumel is shooting 35.9% on threes. He had a career-high six threes at East Carolina (2/12) and has has made four in a game nine times this season (SMU 8-1). He hit a driving jumper with 0.2 on the clock for the 66-64 win at [-/rv] Dayton on Dec. 5, 2020. It was his second game winner. He previously hit a three that beat the shot-clock buzzer with 30 seconds left in overtime for a 73-72 victory over [20/19] Houston on Feb. 15, 2020. He also hit a three to beat the halftime horn in the 80-75 overtime loss to Missouri.

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARDS: Marcus Weathers is averaging 7.6 rebounds (2nd AAC). His 1,009 total career rebounds ranks 12th among active student-athletes in NCAA D-I. He also has 1,737 career points, which is 66th among active NCAA D-I student-athletes. His 24 double-doubles rank 36th.

FIVE AND DIME: Kendric Davis is averaging 19.1 points (1st AAC, 41st NCAA) and 4.5 assists (3rd AAC) with a 1.7 assist-to-turnover ratio (9th AAC). Last season, he averaged 7.6 assists (1st AAC, 4th NCAA). He has 5 or more assists in 51 of 74 games at SMU (17 of 31 this season). He set the AAC record with 14 assists vs Cincinnati 1/7/21 and has notched 13 assists twice (vs Houston Baptist 12/2/20 & vs Tulane on 2/1/20). He had 5 or more assists in 14 straight games (11/27/19 to 1/25/20). That was the longest streak with at least 5 assists since the SMU-record of 16 by Butch Moore from 3/14/85 to 1/8/86. Davis' 6.7 assists led the AAC (10th NCAA) and had a league-best 2.7 assist-to-turnover ratio (19th NCAA).

[Higher Authority]

Bring it on!

[Mustangs35SMU]

Pony Up.

[Terry Webster]

Big guys gotta play well. WSU is tall.

[PonyPride]

Sure is — three guys 6-10 or taller, plus a 6-8 and a 6-9

[PonyPride]

WSU reached the second round of the NIT for the fifth time in six tournaments after defeating Santa Clara, 63-50, at home Tuesday. Wazzu is 8-5 all time in NIT.

[PonyPride]

Today is first matchup ever between WSU and SMU

[PonyPride]

WSU (20-14 / 11-9 in Pac-12 games) has 20 victories for the first time since 2010-11, and the eighth time since the Pac-8 formed in 1968-69.

[PonyPride]

Big guys gotta play well. WSU is tall.

... and they can shoot. Cougars hit 10 from 3-point range in first-round win over Santa Clara

[PonyPride]

They're big, but the Cougs' top two scorers are smaller guards. WSU has 2 players averaging double digits in the scoring column:

Michael Flowers (6-1) leads the team with an average of 13.8 points per game.
Tyrell Roberts (5-11) is next at 11.4 points per game.

[PonyPride]

Despite big front court, WSU doesn't dominate on the boards. Cougars average 36.7 per game, while opponents average 35.1.

Efe Obogidi (6-10) leads the team at 5.7 boards per game
Mouhamed Guete (6-11) is next at 5.3 per.

[PonyPride]

WSU (20-14 / 11-9 in Pac-12 games) has 20 victories for the first time since 2010-11, and the eighth time since the Pac-8 formed in 1968-69.

Of WSU's 11 losses, 7 came in games against teams that reached the NCAA Tournament

[PonyPride]

STARTERS

Washington State
G 2 Tyrell Roberts
G 5 TJ Bamba
G 12 Michael Flowers
F 0 Efe Abogidi
F 35 Mouhamed Gueye

SMU
G 3 Kendric Davis
G 5 Emmanuel Bandoumel
G 10 Zach Nutall
G 23 Michael Weathers
F 50 Marcus Weathers

[PonyPride]

Michael Weathers can jump out of the building, but he started out guarding Gueye — who is 6-11
Weathers picked up game's first foul

Washington State, 2-0