UNIVERSITY PARK – SMU’s drive for its first March Madness invitation in nine years gained a little more traction with a 94-70 victory over Boston College Saturday afternoon at Moody Coliseum.
Jermaine O’Neal Jr. provided a spark off the bench with a team-high 16 points as SMU dominated in the second half and improved its home record to 15-2.
“Jermaine made some big-time athletic plays,’’ SMU coach Andy Enfield said. “He has that in him. Overall, he’s really improved his decision-making.’’
O’Neal went 5-10 shooting from the field, 2-5 on 3-pointers and 4-4 at the free throw line.
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“The shots I’m taking now seem to come in rhythm,’’ O’Neal said.
Five other Mustangs scored in double figures. Samet Yigitoglu and B.J. Edwards had 15 points, Jaron Pierre Jr. and Jaden Toombs notched 11 and Boopie Miller, plagued with foul trouble, had 11.
When SMU has six or more double-figure scorers, its record is 8-1.
“We are very good when we share the basketball,’’ Enfield said.
In the spotlight: See photos from SMU basketball’s win over Boston College
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For the Mustangs (19-8, 8-6 in the ACC), the win over struggling Boston College was not an attention-grabber in the manner of Tuesday’s 95-85 takedown of No. 21 Louisville. But a defeat at home to the lowly Eagles (9-18, 2-12) would have canceled out much of Tuesday’s gain in status.
Boston College, winless in the last month, saw its losing streak grow to eight games. Eagles guard Fred Payne led all scorers with 20 points.
SMU closed out the first half on an 11-0 run in the final 2:40 to turn a seven-point deficit into a 40-36 intermission lead.
Edwards hit a pair of 3-pointers in the spurt, and Pierre brought the crowd to its feet with another 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Boston College built its first-half lead on 3-point shooting of its own. The Eagles, not known to be feared behind the line, drilled 9 of 20 to account for all but nine points of their halftime point total.
The Mustangs were hampered by the absence of Miller, who, in addition to his scoring, leads the conference in assists. Two early fouls put Miller on the bench for seven minutes, and he had only two points and one assist at the break.
Miller picked up his third foul in the opening four minutes of the second half, again resulting in a trip to the bench. But his teammates responded with an 8-0 run for the Mustangs’ first double-digit lead at the 15:00 mark.
The Eagles’ 3-point magic did not carry over into the final half; they made only two, and SMU could enjoy stress-free final minutes.
Enfield switched to a zone late in the first half, and it worked well enough to stick with it after intermission.
SMU exploited the middle of the Boston College defense for a 46-20 advantage in scoring from the paint.
Going into the weekend, SMU was projected to be a ninth seed in the Midwest Region in Joe Lunardi’s ESPN Men’s Bracketology. Lunardi rated the Mustangs’ chances at receiving an at-large tournament bid in the mid-80 percent range.
SMU has advanced to a dozen NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournaments, but only two since 1993, the most recent in 2017.
Eight ACC teams are projected to participate in this year’s March Madness and SMU went into the weekend eighth in the conference standings and No. 37 nationally in the ESPN ratings.
Considering SMU’s remaining schedule — on the road for three of its final four games — avoiding a stumble Saturday provides a little more wiggle room in the final two weeks leading up to the ACC tournament.
The Mustangs are in the Bay Area to face California on Wednesday and Stanford on Saturday.
Five ACC schools are rated as NCAA locks by Lunardi: Duke, Virginia, Louisville, North Carolina and Clemson.
SMU falls in the “should be in’’ category along with Miami and North Carolina State.
California is in the next “work to do’’ grouping. Stanford’s chances are rated a long shot.
After the West Coast swing, Miami comes to Moody for the home finale on March 4 and the regular season concludes at Florida State on Saturday, March 7.
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