We've got another good PE for y'all, enjoy!

Pony Express

markus kennedy ‏@mark_kennedy5 2m2 minutes ago

The wait is over #TeamFOE

All, just wanted to pass along. Hicks is a mid-semester enrollee so he will be at SMU in mid-January.

This was just announced. Congratulations to SMU for landing Hicks. I saw him play against Mansfield Timberview in September. He has a big arm.

UPDATE:
This is Adam, just spoke with Hicks:

Full Story
This post was edited on 12/19 4:54 PM by AdamGrosbard

Who's our newest commitment?

I've got the Mustangs moving up in this week's power rankings.

Power Rankings

I spoke with three-star cornerback Malik Antoine about his new SMU offer.

Antoine

Are we seeing much Juco recruiting activity from from the new staff ?

Trending Up: Nic Moore. Moore was questionable to even play
due to a knee injury, but Moore heard his name called for the starting lineup.
The injury did not seem to restrict Moore at all. He pushed the ball with his
normal quickness and knocked down shots for the entire game. He drew fouls on
UIC left and right and really showed off his ability to play physically. He and
Keith Frazier led the Mustangs with 16 points each.


Trending Down: AAC referees. The referees had a number of
questionable calls throughout the night. Little contact led to whistles on
several occasions. They were very quick to calls offensive fouls, a rarity in
basketball today, on SMU. They also took roughly five minutes discussing a
double technical foul on SMU's Sterling Brown and UIC's Marc Brown that could
have taken 30 seconds.


Trending Up: Keith Frazier. Frazier continued on his great
all-around play from last game vs UC-Santa Barbara. In the second half he
really heated up. Frazier hit jumpers and led the defense by deflecting passing
attempts and pressuring ball-handlers. He scored 16 points on an efficient 5-6
shooting from the field. He also grabbed 10 rebounds for his first
double-double.


Trending Down: SMU alley-oop attempts. The Mustangs never
shy away from throwing up a lob pass towards the rim, but tonight the desire
for highlight plays led to turnovers. Three times SMU couldn't complete the
alley-oop, including one that was wide open for 6-foot-11 Yanick Moreira.


Trending Up: Jonathan Wilfong. WIlfong entered the game with
about two minutes left. He absolutely ignited Moody Coliseum with his late-game
play. After drawing a foul, Wilfong knocked down the first free throw and
missed the second, but grabbed his own rebound. He then scored a lay up with
contact and the crowd cheered its loudest all game.


Trending Down: SMU holding leads. Just like last game
against UCSB, the Mustangs gave up a double-digit lead. UIC pulled within four
points during the second half, but a run by SMU widened the winning margin. SMU
will need to work on not letting up after gaining a lead.

I'm heading to the airport pretty soon so I wanted to post this now. Nikki and Nathan will be at the game tonight providing live updates and coverage!

"I don't know what I said" after UIC cut the SMU lead to 4 points"We got careless the whole game"Nic Moore didn't get any recurrence of his injuryGlad to see George W. Bush and Laura Bush at the gameHappy for Kevin Dunleavy and Jonathan Wilfong contributing"Every game I see unbelievable improvement" in Keith FrazierNoted Frazier's consistent effort in practice and games"I have no clue. Don't get me into this stuff. I get in trouble" - when asked about Markus Kennedy timetable"Some day it's gonna happen" - on SMU fans traveling for their road games

Frazier - Double-double, stayed focus throughout the game, my teammates and coaches keep giving me confidence, I just went in there and played hard. I think they made some good tough shots. As long as we stick to the principles, we can guard anybody

Martin - At the start of the second half we let the defense go a little but then we went into the huddle and Coach laid it on us and we picked it up. Sometimes you start fast, sometimes its slow, but the more mentally tough team is going to win and that's what happen.

Quick take: SMU 67, UIC 46

Quick take: SMU won another game against another team that isn't very impressive on paper. UIC was 3-8 coming into Moody so the outcome was expected. However, it was a good way for SMU to wake up after a long break so they can get ready for Michigan and conference play. Nic Moore dressed and played a lot of minutes, Justin Martin got back on the court, but Markus Kennedy was still in street clothes.


Highlight: 3-pointers. SMU shot 60 percent from behind the arc. Besides two dunks by Cannen Cunningham, three pointers from Frazier and Nic Moore were the only thing that got SMU students loud tonight in Moody; well, three pointers and George W. Bush. Frazier went 1-2 and Nic Moore went 2-3; in a low scoring game, 3-5 is good but they could have taken even more if they weren't rushing so much.


Lowlight: The bench. The bench really wasn't producing tonight and Larry Brown knew it. He limited the bench players' time on the court and maximized Nic Moore's, Keith Frazier's, and Yanick Moreira's because they were producing and bringing energy.
While the team's been off for nine days, they should still be performing. Brown certainly didn't see Nic Moore struggling even after being limited in practice; he tied for the lead in points tonight with 16. The bench combined for a total of 14 points.

What it means: SMU advances to 7-3, 7-1 at home. With the AAC not looking very strong so far this season, SMU should fair pretty well but they have to take on Michigan first. It's hard to say after this one game that they're back in shape to play big time schools but they shot over 53 percent, 69 percent from the free throw line, and had 43 rebounds.

A source tells me that SMU and Illinois are immediately possible landing spots for Duke transfer Semi Ojeleye:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/eye-on-college-basketball/24887974/duke-forward-semi-ojeleye-to-transfer-from-school

I take a look at SMU's matchup with the UIC Flames tonight.

Preview