As the old saying goes, “They lost the game before they walked off the bus” and that could not be any truer Thursday night when the #2 Houston Cougars hosted the SMU Mustangs. After SMU scored the first 2 points of the game, Houston took it personal and scored 24 straight points. The Ponies from Dallas played with fear in their eyes and concrete in their shoes.

SMU turned the ball over and struggled to get any clean shots going. It reminded you of a Varsity vs. Junior Varsity matchup. The Mustangs like a JV squad kept passing the ball wildly until the defense had no other choice but to steal it and jam it home. It just showed how far SMU as a program is behind what Kelvin Sampson has built at Houston. The Mustangs have very little experience currently, especially against competition like the #2 Cougars. Coach Lanier has the program trending in the right direction. The team showed that against similar and even better competition to themselves since the Iona game. I’m not worried but SMU is behind the top of the AAC.

The lack of size for the Mustangs was on full display last night. It has been the case so far this season - the Ponies can run but will get bullied in the paint. Houston out rebounded the Mustangs 54 to 26. Most of that was courtesy of the superstar freshman from Pennsylvania Jarace Walker. He is every bit of 6’8” 240 pounds and will be in the NBA in no time (sigh of relief for SMU fans). He finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds but it is the ferocity in which Walker plays the game of basketball with. He tries to rip the rim off the basket every time he dunks the ball and damn near does it. That’s just how the Houston Cougars play basketball - mean. Something SMU hasn’t had since Larry Brown was the coach - good memories.

SMU travels to Orlando to face the UCF Knights on Sunday, another tough matchup. On Sunday I’d like to see the guards be more assertive and aggressive like they have been recently. Samuell Williamson was 0/4 - I didn’t even recognize him vs. Houston. He hid in the corner and was extremely passive. SMU needs more from him. Zach Nutall had 12 points and was the only Mustang in double figures, he’ll need to continue his strong ball handling. Zurich Phelps was back in the starting lineup after going down injured vs. Tulsa early and was 2/11 looking out of sorts. With that said, the whole team needs to step up and forget what happened on Thursday because the season is very young just like these Ponies.