Tulane (12-6, 2-2 Conference USA) vs. SMU Mustangs (6-10, 0-3 C-USA)
Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 7 pm
Fogelman Arena
Overview: After a less than stellar performance against Rice this past weekend, the Wave take on another team struggling this season in SMU. After four straight losses to begin the season, SMU reeled off six wins in seven games to improve to 6-5. However, the Mustangs have struggled of late with 4 straight losses. The Mustangs are currently 288th in RPI, while Tulane sits 118th.
Last Meeting: SMU defeated the Wave last season 55-53 in Dallas. The Wave led by double figures for a majority of the contest, but a shooting slump in the last 7 minutes, in which they could only muster 7 points, ultimately led to the Wave's demise.
Scouting SMU: The Mustangs are led by 2nd year head coach Matt Doherty, the former boss at North Carolina. Three players average double figures for the Mustangs led by Joe Killen with 11.7 points. Bamba Fall and Pape Dia average 10.9 and 10.6 points respectively. Dia also leads the Mustangs with 6.8 rebounds per contest. SMU is 1-3 and averages 61.2 points per game on the road this season. The Mustangs have also shot well from beyond the arc, shooting at an impressive 33.2% clip.
Player to Watch: Johnny Mayhanne has become one of the Wave's primary weapons off of the bench along with Donnie Stith. With every game, Mayhanne seems to be more and more confident, which should only help the Wave's depth. The bench should see a lot of action this game, assuming the Wave shows up for 40 minutes.
Prediction: The last game against Rice should have provided some valuable lessons for the Wave. I expect them to play much better against SMU. Wave wins 72-58.
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