UNIVERSITY PARK — The NCAA tournament bubble is a familiar place for SMU, but this season has been different.
In recent years, the Mustangs have been on the outside looking in of snapping an NCAA Tournament drought that could reach a decade this March. But since their strong start in non-conference play and upset win over No. 12 North Carolina to open ACC play in January, the Mustangs have been firmly in the 68-team field, according to most bracket projections.
Their NCAA tournament aspirations were entirely in their own control a week ago. But after three consecutive losses, including a 77-69 loss to No. 22 Miami at Moody Coliseum Wednesday night, the Mustangs’ tournament chances are now rapidly vanishing.
SMU needs a win over Florida State in the regular-season finale Saturday — and potentially a run to the ACC tournament semifinals, at least — to secure its spot in March Madness. The Mustangs were a 10-seed in Joe Lunardi’s ESPN bracketology ahead of their loss Wednesday but will likely fall further, possibly out of the field entirely.
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Their late-season skid has made it so the Mustangs might even need to win three games to reach the conference tournament semis. The top nine teams in the standings earn a bye in next week’s tournament, and SMU sat in 10th place when the final buzzer sounded at its game against Miami Wednesday night.
The Mustangs, who already had wins over two ranked opponents at Moody Coliseum this season (North Carolina and No. 21 Louisville), kept it close against the Hurricanes through one half. SMU came out cold from the field, and the Hurricanes were quite the opposite. SMU never led, but Miami never led by more than seven points in the first half, which only came with a 3-pointer just ahead of the halftime buzzer.
Still, point guard Boopie Miller finished with 14 points in the first half, and center Samet Yigitoglu added eight points, three rebounds and four blocks. The Mustangs were still in it.
But Miami started the second half on a 7-0 run to build a 14-point lead, putting the game near out of reach. Tre Donaldson, who led the Hurricanes with 17 points, had five during that run. Four other Hurricanes — Malik Reneau, Noam Dovrat, Tru Washington and Shelton Henderson — finished in double figures.
SMU managed to cut the lead to as few as seven points, as Jaron Pierre Jr. came alive, scoring 25 of his 27 points in the second half. But any time the Mustangs went on a second-half run, Miami answered.
Miller scored just seven points in the second half to bring his total to 21. Yigitoglu had 12 points and seven rebounds.
SMU was without starting guard BJ Edwards for the second straight game after he suffered an ankle injury in last week’s game at Cal.
SMU heads to Tallahassee for its final regular-season test where the Mustangs could be playing for a first-round bye in the ACC tournament. That bye could make all the difference, as a run in the ACC tournament may be their only chance left at making the tournament.
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