DALLAS, TEXAS — SMU snapped the California Golden Bears three-game winning streak after winning 76-65 in their first clash as ACC opponents, and first meeting since 2014.
While the SMU Mustangs (16-5 overall, 7-3 ACC) will host four of their next five, they can now also say they’ve won five of their last six.
First-year center Samet Yiğitoğlu did not play after having a career-high 20 points in SMU’s win over NC State last Saturday.
“When Samet is up there, he commands a lot of attention,” Cal head coach Mark Madsen said, saying his team had to make adjustments when finding out just an hour before the game that he’d be on the bench.
Cal lost the lead to SMU with just over six minutes to go in the first half, and never got it back. The Mustangs led the Golden Bears by as many as 13 points, and had four players score in double digits: Chuck Harris had 20 points, B.J. Edwards and Matt Cross had 15, Boopie Miller with 13.
Both Edwards and Miller had five assists, each; Cross with 14 rebounds.
But, both teams struggled from the 3-point line: SMU going 6 for 20, Cal 5 for 25. The Mustangs also had 16 turnovers, but SMU head coach Andy Enfield said “sometimes you have to win ugly.”
Enfield now has a 14-5 record over the Golden Bears, including 13 of those wins from when he served as head coach at USC.
SMU stays home to host Stanford this Saturday. Tip off, will be at 5 p.m.
