[20/21] SMU 74, East Carolina 68
The American Athletic Conference Championship
#1 SMU (25-6, 15-3), #8 East Carolina (14-19, 6-12)
XL Center
Hartford, Connecticut
The American Championship Notes:
SMU will face the winner of #4 Temple and #5 Memphis in the Semifinals on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT on ESPN2
SMU Notes:
SMU won its first conference tournament game since 2006 – Defeated Rice 61-59 in first round of Conference USA Tournament
SMU is 25-6 overall – Tied for fourth most wins in a season (25-8 in 1983-84 under Dave Bliss)
· Won 23 of the last 26 games
SMU is 1-0 in neutral site games this season
· 6-6 under Larry Brown in neutral site games
Starting Five: Nic Moore, Ryan Manuel, Ben Moore, Cannen Cunningham and Yanick Moreira
· 6th different starting lineup used this year
Head Coach Larry Brown
· 1721-1225 all-time (40th season: includes NBA, ABA, USA Basketball and NCAA)
· 244-94 in NCAA (10th season)
o 10-5 in NCAA conference tournament games
· 67-33 at SMU (3rd season)
o 1-2 in SMU conference tournament games
Series Notes:
SMU is 7-4 all-time against East Carolina – SMU won the lone regular season matchup, 77-54, in Dallas (Jan. 17)
· 1-0 in conference tournament games
Offensive Notes:
SMU scored 70+ points for the 16th time (14-2 in those games)
· Entered averaging 69.5 ppg (1st in AAC)
SMU had a FG% Margin of 2.2 (FG% Margin = FG% - FG% Defense)
· Entered with FG% Margin of 10.2 (48.4 - 38.2 = 10.
(6th in NCAA, 1st in AAC)SMU was 3-9 on 3-pointers (33.3%)
· Entered with 3FG% of 36.3 (1st in AAC)
SMU was 19-28 on FT (67.9 FT%)
· Entered with FT% of 70.6 (1st in AAC)
SMU had 16 assists on 26 field goals
· Entered with 15.7 apg (19th in NCAA, 1st in AAC)
SMU had 4 players score 10+ points
· #11 Nic Moore 20 pts
· #5 Markus Kennedy 15 pts
· #00 Ben Moore 11 pts
· #12 Yanick Moreira 10 pts
SMU held the lead at halftime (37-32) for the 25th time (23-2 in those games)
· 56-12 under Larry Brown when leading at half
SMU had more points in the paint (44-16) for the 28th time (23-5 in those games)
· 59-23 under Larry Brown when outscoring opponent in the paint
SMU had more bench points (19-10) for the 20th time (19-1 those games)
· 47-8 under Larry Brown when scoring more bench points
Defensive Notes:
East Carolina made 15 3-pointers – Most makes for an opponent against SMU this season
SMU held opponent under 70 points for the 25th time (23-2 in those games)
· 62-14 under Larry Brown when holding opponent under 70 points
SMU outrebounded opponent (34-27) for the 26th time (23-3 in those games)
· Rebound margin of +7
o Entered with rebound margin of 6.5 (21st in NCAA, 1st in AAC)
· 57-15 under Larry Brown when outrebounding opponent
SMU scored 27 points on 15 East Carolina turnovers
· SMU had 10 steals – 7-0 this season when having 10+ steals
SMU Individual Notes:
#11 Nic Moore (G, Jr.): 20 points (6-14 FG, 5-5 FT), 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 rebound
· The American Player of the Year
· 10+ points in 24 games (8 straight)
· 5+ assists in 21 games
#2 Yanick Moreira (C, Sr.): 10 points (4-11 FG, 2-2 FT), 6 rebounds, 1 assist
· The American Most Improved Player
· 10+ points in 19 games
#5 Markus Kennedy (F, Jr.): 15 points (4-9 FG, 7-14 FT), 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists, 1 block
· The American Sixth Man of the Year
· 10+ points in 11 games
#00 Ben Moore (F, So.): 11 points (3-8 FG, 5-7 FT), 4 assists, 3 steals, 2 rebounds
· 10+ points in 10 games
Next:
The American Athletic Conference Championship - Semifinals
SMU will face No. 4 Temple or No. 5 Memphis – Saturday, March 14 – 3 p.m. ET/ 2 p.m. CT – Hartford, Connecticut – XL Center
TV: ESPN2 (Dave O’Brien, Doris Burke)
Radio: KAAM 770 AM (Rich Phillips, Allen Stone)
