DMN recap: Ollie give Moody crowd credit

[LA_Mustang]

Published: 14 February 2015 10:38 PM
Updated: 14 February 2015 11:59 PM
Related
SMU student nails halfcourt shot for $18,000 at 'College Gameday'
3 Takeaways: SMU never takes foot off gas pedal in blowout win over UConn

UNIVERSITY PARK — Connecticut may have won the national title in Arlington, but Saturday night the big celebration belonged to SMU.

The No. 25 Mustangs rolled over the defending champion, capping their first ESPN GameDay with a resounding 73-55 victory.

The last time they played host to UConn, the Mustangs were pulling the curtain off renovated Moody Coliseum.

This time, a post-redo record crowd (7,395) showed why their team is so difficult to beat in the cozy arena. The Mustangs are 25-3 at home since then. And with a combined attendance of 110,820, SMU has set the program record for one season.

“Just seeing all the fans out there showing the love, it feels good,” SMU guard Sterling Brown said. “This was probably the loudest Moody has been.”

The students on the floor, as usual, stood the entire game. Several times they jumped in unison, shaking the bleachers.

“I couldn’t hear anything,” SMU center Yanick Moreira said. “I was trying to call screens, and [Sterling Brown] was mad at me for not calling screens. I said, ‘I did, they just couldn’t hear it.’”

Much has changed since the Mustangs ushered in the new Moody era Jan. 4, 2014, with a 74-65 victory over UConn, their first win over a Top 25 team in 11 years.

SMU, which swept last season’s series, improved to 4-0 all time vs. the Huskies.

“This team is different from the one we started the season with, but we're making progress, that’s the important thing,” Mustangs coach Larry Brown said.

The Mustangs overcame a seven-point deficit with a 21-4 run in the first half. They never relinquished their hold after that seven-minute stretch.

The victory kept SMU (21-5 12-2) atop the American Athletic Conference standings. The Huskies (14-10 7-5) remained winless against Top 25 opponents since their national title victory.

SMU fans also got favorable news on the injury front. Big man Markus Kennedy, who was helped off the court with 1:28 left, was merely suffering from cramps.

The Mustangs’ celebratory day featured a member of the MOB student group draining a half-court shot. That pretty much set the tone for the night cap.

SMU’s big run led to a 15-point halftime lead. The Mustangs never allowed UConn to get within that margin the rest of the way.

The Huskies had no answer for SMU’s big men. They went small and paid big for it, getting outscored, 40-20, in the paint.

“They have balance,” UConn coach Kevin Ollie said. “Every loose ball, every fast break, I mean look at the stat sheet. They beat us in every category. When the crowd got going, we just fell apart.”

SMU’s guards made UConn pay for mistakes, setting up 15 fast-break points to only two for the Huskies. The Mustangs’ biggest lead was 67-39.

Kennedy, fellow big man Yanick Moreira and Brown each scored 13 points.

Moreira grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked a shot, and Kennedy contributed eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Point guard Nic Moore finished with 10 points and six assists.

Ryan Boatright led the Huskies with 19 points, including four 3-pointers. UConn could manage only 34 percent shooting against defense-minded SMU.

Brown credited associated coach Tim Jankovich for scouting the Huskies and devising a plan to beat their small lineup.

“They went small and just demolished Tulsa,” Larry Brown said of the Huskies. “I think we were real concerned about this game. I thought we defended about as well as we could.”

[Charleston Pony]

good to see the Jank mention; he's a forgotten man at times but a huge part of our success. Just remember who brought us little Nic!

[Arkpony]

Glad to see Coach Tim J get credit for devising the excellent defense.

[Pony64]

good to see the Jank mention; he's a forgotten man at times but a huge part of our success. Just remember who brought us little Nic!

Absolutely!

[mrydel]

Near the end of the game LB walked over to Jank, who was sitting on the bench, bent over, put his hands on both sides of Jank's face and said something. Seemed to be a "great job" or "thank you" type of gesture. First time I have ever seen LB that demonstrative with a coach.

[Charleston Pony]

Meanwhile, the announcers mentioned several times that this was the largest crowd in Moody history...the NEW Moody, that is. We old timers remember 10,000+ packed into the old Moody on more than one occasion. They did talk about how strong we were back in the Doc Hayes era without any specific mention of Doc or any of those players from those years. I love this new Moody and agree with Doris Burke's comments about how intimate an arena it is...without a bad seat in the house. I got lots of comments from friends all over the southeast about SMU last night. Was definitely a proud day to be a Mustang.

[LA_Mustang]

From the ESPN recap........

Raucous and sold-out Moody Coliseum on the SMU campus was quite a contrast for UConn after the Final Four in the cavernous palace Jerry Jones built. Plus, students got an early boost when one of their own hit a halfcourt shot to win $18,000 on national TV about nine hours before the late tip-off.

By the end, they were shaking the stands by jumping and chanting just before Nic Moore, who had 10 points and six assists, made them even louder with a 3-pointer for a 67-39 lead. The party was tempered a bit, though, when Kennedy left with what appeared to be a leg or ankle injury in the final 2 minutes. It turned out to be cramps.

[LA_Mustang]

The Hartford paper recap.....

UConn No Match For League-Leading SMU

DALLAS — UConn may have been the hot team coming in, but Southern Methodist left no doubt it's the best team in the American Athletic Conference.

The Mustangs solidified their hold on first place — and an NCAA Tournament berth — by clobbering the Huskies 73-55 Saturday night before an exuberant campus crowd of 7,395, the largest in the history of Moody Coliseum.

UConn, in short, followed up its best game of the season with its worst.

"We just cracked, man," said Ryan Boatright, who scored a futile 19 points. "We just cracked. We got off to a good start, and then once they got going, we gave up and they punked us from there on out. They out-toughed us, shot it better, outscored us in the paint. They just beat us down, man."

SMU (21-5, 12-2), exquisitely prepared by Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown, devoured UConn's undersized lineup, going inside again and again and outscoring the Huskies 22-6 in the paint in the first half to build a 15-point lead. UConn never got closer than 10 in the second half, and SMU made it a blowout, extending the lead to 67-39 when Nic Moore buried a three-pointer with 5:50 to go.

"We're just a little too fragile sometimes," Boatright said. "It's frustrating for me. I try to express as much as I can to the team, you play hard all the way to the end. It's one thing when a team beats you, it's another thing when you let up and give up and let them do alley-oops and have a dunk fest. You're supposed to play hard to the end. They're not supposed to get dunks, you foul 'em hard and make them go to the free throw line"

Coach Kevin Ollie waved the white flag with 1:28 to go, putting in walk-on Dan Guest for Boatright.


"No, the effort wasn't there," Ollie said, "not at the championship level, not to beat a team like this. So we've got to take the challenge. All the 50-50 balls they got, points in the paint, second-chance points. You can go down the list, the effort wasn't there to win a game like this."

The Huskies had won three in a row and knocked Tulsa out of first place with a startling 25-point win in Hartford on Thursday night, but somewhere along the way — during the 48-hour turnaround and the long flight to Texas — the momentum was lost. UConn shot terribly, 17-for-50; Rodney Purvis and Daniel Hamilton missed 14 of their first 16 shots. And when Amida Brimah got into foul trouble, as he often has against the better frontcourts the Huskies have played, there was just no chance.


Boatright led all scorers in a game that looked typical among UConn's losses this season — his passes to open teammates too often resulted in missed shots, especially three-pointers. UConn was 7-for-25 on those. Hamilton scored 13.

"When you shoot 7-for-25 and you keep shooting three-point shots, that's not good looks," Ollie said. "You've got to drive the basketball, get in the lane, get to the free throw line. You're taking too many threes and you're not making them, so a smart man would take it to the basket and not continue to take contested threes, or threes, period."

SMU, which shot 48.1 percent, got 13 points each from Yanick Moreira and Markus Kennedy and 10 from Moore, who had six assists and played the steady floor game for which he is known. UConn is all too familiar with his prowess, having lost twice to SMU last season .

UConn (14-10, 7-5) could still be the second best team in this league, but will have to improve dramatically to match up with SMU, ranked 25th and trending upward, when these teams meet in Hartford on March 1 and possibly again in the AAC Tournament. This game resembled the Huskies' 33-point loss at Louisville in the last regular season game of the 2013-14 season, but UConn was assured of an NCAA berth despite that defeat. This year, with six games left in the regular season, there is no second chance assured.

"I believe in my teammates," Boatright said, "I've got confidence in them, but they've got to have confidence in themselves. Sometimes, I've got more confidence in them than they do in themselves."

The Huskies, with their small lineup, came out with a fast pace and jumped out to a 10-3 lead as Boatright hit a pair of three-pointers. But SMU took the punch, then delivered a flurry of its own, forcing turnovers and dominating the boards as UConn went cold from the floor.


"We just settled for threes," Hamilton said. "That's what led to their easy baskets in transition. That's something we're going to have to work on, because we're going to have to play them again."

SMU put together a 16-2 run, taking the lead on Sterling Brown's three-pointer and capping the surge with two Cannen Cunningham free throws. The Mustangs dominated the rest of the half. UConn had to go to a bigger lineup and then got into foul trouble.

"We've got good big kids," Brown said. "That's really our strength, and the fact we try to get the ball inside and our big players can score and pass, I think that's a factor. They decided to go small and we should've had an advantage."

When Kennedy got free inside for a dunk, the Mustangs extended their lead to 37-23 before Omar Calhoun hit a three for UConn. It was 41-26 at the break.

"If you consider the quality of the opponent," Brown said, "that's the best first half we've had."

SMU had trouble finishing around the basket in the early minutes of the second half, however, and UConn made a little run. Boatright completed a three-point play and Kentan Facey powered up with an offensive rebound to bring the Huskies within 10. But Brimah picked up his fourth foul with 14:20 to play, and that added to the Mustangs' advantage in the paint.

Ryan Manuel was left uncovered along the baseline and threw it down to finish a 9-0 run. SMU, cruising at this point, led 54-35 with 11:53 remaining and eventually extended that run to 22-4.

"They took it to us," Ollie said, "and they've been taking it to every team they've played, but we can't just lay down and settle for that. We've got to come back and we've got to punch, too. A big game like this, we didn't come with the focus and composure we should have.

When the crowd got going, we just fell apart. We can't do that the next time we get in a venue like this. "

Copyright © 2015, Hartford Courant

[Junior]

Nice article by the Hartford paper.

[mustangxc]

My favorite quote "We can't do that the next time we get in a venue like this. " Just a couple years back that was unimaginable.

[Charleston Pony]

how about that...we actually have a home court advantage again

[diamond_tom]

I like this one,

Southern Methodist left no doubt...

[ponyboy]

My favorite:

"We just cracked, man," said Ryan Boatright, who scored a futile 19 points. "We just cracked. We got off to a good start, and then once they got going, we gave up and they punked us from there on out. They out-toughed us, shot it better, outscored us in the paint. They just beat us down, man."

[Rebel10]

Kevin Ollie is a class act. So is Boatright as he did not make any excuses either.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Kevin Ollie is a class act. So is Boatright as he did not make any excuses either.

Yeah.