MUSTANGS RUN OVER SYRACUSE IN TERRIFIC DEFENSIVE EFFORT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – As they always say: “Defense wins championships.”

Late Wednesday night, the No. 6 seed Mustangs smothered the No. 14 seed Orange in a 73-53 route, holding Syracuse to the lowest scoring output in the 2025 ACC Tournament to this point. 

“Really proud of our team tonight,” SMU head coach Andy Enfield said. “Defensively in the second half, [we] played outstanding defense and stimulated our offense. We got some deflections, some steals, some rebounds and were able to push the ball in transition, and I thought our guys played very, very hard tonight.” 

Believe it or not, this one was pretty tight in the first half. With 11:29 to go in the first, the Mustangs led 12-11. Syracuse guard J.J. Starling had a nice start with seven points in the first eight minutes or so. 

Both teams were playing efficient offense, hitting threes and getting to the rack. 

Syracuse wound up faltering a bit later, but a quick 6-0 run at the end of the half had themselves going into the break just trailing the Mustangs 31-28. 

After trailing by nine with 1:52 left, Starling was able to hit one from beyond the arc, followed by Jyare Davis who cut the deficit to three. 

Possibly portraying the future of this game, Starling was solo leading the charge for the Orange at the break with 11 points. Meanwhile, SMU was very well balanced—four players had over five points: Boopie Miller, Chuck Harris, Kario Oquendo and B.J. Edwards. 

Coming out of halftime, the Mustang defense swarmed Starling and forward Eddie Lampkin, eliminating the Orange’s top two scoring threats from making an impact. 

“Our coaches came up with a pretty good game plan,” Harris said. “We know, offensively, those two guys, how they get going. So we definitely had a major focus on both of them, but we ultimately just did what we had to do to get some stops as a team and got the job done.” 

Harris was a big part of what SMU did on the offensive side of the ball as well in the second half, scoring six more points, including two consecutive threes on the back end of a 10-0 run storming out of the halftime gates. 

The senior guard, who transferred from Butler two seasons ago, finished the night with 12 points, hitting 3-of-5 from long distance along with six rebounds. 

“In the second half, we went up 10, and the guys kind of huddled up and just said, ‘This is the time to put the foot on the gas and keep it that way,’” Harris said. “And we ended up running away with it at the end.”

The Mustangs closed it out in the second half with hustle and energy. Syracuse shot just 8-of-30 after the break. The Orange didn’t even see a ball go through the net until the 14:25 mark. 

What makes the effort even more impressive is how SMU’s defense struggled earlier in the season, allowing 80 or more points six times before February. 

They have not allowed another team to eclipse that mark since. 

“Early in the season that was one of our struggles and we came together, coaches and players, and made it try to be one of our focal points to improve on,” Enfield said. 

“Today I think we did a really good job. To be able to win a tournament like the ACC Tournament, you've definitely got to come together with some stops, so we've definitely been prioritizing that.” 

It was a total team effort for SMU on Wednesday, with four players finishing in double-digits. 

Matt Cross also had 12 points alongside Harris. Miller and Keon Ambrose-Hylton each finished with 10. 

“We used our whole bench, so we tried to stay fresh, and that was the goal—to try to have a great second half,” Enfield said. “But we played a lot of guys tonight and used our bench.” 

The Mustangs will take on No. 3 seed Clemson Thursday night at 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, in hopes of advancing to the ACC semifinals. 

“We know they're a really good team,” Harris said. “We're going to come in, probably, tomorrow morning. Coach is going to draw up a good game plan. We're going to get some rest throughout the day and come ready to play.”