SMU Knocked Out AAC Tournament In Loss to Temple

FORT WORTH, Texas – A month ago, SMU was looking great. The Mustangs were on a six-game win streak and were third in the AAC standings.

But things changed quickly.

The Mustangs (20-12, 11-7 AAC) lost four of the last five games and their lone win was in overtime against East Carolina. Their fortunes didn’t change in a second round AAC Championship game against 11-seed Temple (14-19, 5-13 AAC).

Trailing 43-36 with 15:17 left to play, Temple would catch fire. The Owls scored 43 points in the second half and forced seven SMU turnovers, while also out-rebounding SMU and blocking four shots in the final 20 minutes of play. The Mustangs failed to take advantage of their scoring changes, going 9-for-27 from the field in the second half.

“In the first half, we’re picking up full court and our objective is to wear them down and we looked tired,” SMU coach Rob Lanier said in his postgame radio interview. “It’s like we wore ourselves down. I don’t know what it was. We looked unusually tired.”

Chuck Harris was the lone SMU player to score double digits despite leaving the game early in the second half with an injury. Harris led the team with 10 points and three assists. Emory Lanier and Zhuric Phelps each scored nine points, and Tyreek Smith had eight.

“They outplayed us,” Lanier said. “I wouldn’t attribute it to Chuck going down. Our defensive intensity and effort wasn’t good. Early in the game we got some of that, we got on a run that got us that early lead, but we didn’t sustain it.”

SMU’s early exit from the AAC almost ensures it won’t receive an invitation to the NCAA tournament, but the Mustangs could be competing in the NIT tournament. The NIT bracket will be revealed on Sunday, the same day as the NCAA’s bracket release.