SMU Mustangs Basketball: 10-Year Snapshot & 2025 Season Update

2025 North Carolina Sports Network
Atlantic Coast Conference Basketball Spotlight:
Southern Methodist University

By Ben McCormick
North Carolina Sports Network

School: Southern Methodist University (SMU)

Location: Dallas, Texas (University Park)

Previous NCAA Conference Affiliations: Independent (1916-18), Southwest Conference (1918-96), Western Athletic Conference (1996-2005), Conference USA (2005-13), American Athletic Conference (2013-24)

ACC Member Since: 2024-25

ACC Ranking Among 31 Leagues (KenPom): 5th (2025), 5th (2024), 7th (2023), 5th (2022), 5th (2021), 4th (2020)

NCAA Tournament Bids: 12 (1955, 1956, 1957, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1984, 1985, 1988, 1993, 2015, 2017)

Sweet 16s: 6 (1955, 1956, 1957, 1965, 1966, 1967)

Final Fours: 1 (1956)

NCAA Championships: 0

Conference Titles: 3 (1988 in SWC; 2015, 2017 in AAC)

Conference 1st-Place Finishes: 15 (1935, 1937, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1972, 1988, 1993 in SWC; 2015, 2017 in AAC)

Head Coach: Andy Enfield (55 years old, 1st season)

As A Player: Johns Hopkins (1987-91)

Record at SMU (through Feb. 14): 19-5, 10-3 (.792) in 1st season

Previous HC Experience: Florida Gulf Coast (2011-13), USC (2013-24)

College AC Experience: Florida State (2006-11)

Assistant Under: Leonard Hamilton

2023-24 Record: 20-13, 11-7 (5th in 14-team AAC)

2024-25 Preseason Prediction (Coaches): 13th in 18-team ACC

2024-25 Record (through Feb. 14): 19-5, 10-3 ACC

2024-25 Midseason Ranking (KenPom): #39 nationally (4th in ACC)

Remaining Regular-Season Schedule: Wake Forest (2/15), at Notre Dame (2/19), #23 Clemson (2/22), at Cal (2/26), at Stanford (3/1), Syracuse (3/4), at FSU (3/8)

Two years ago, if you had told SMU fans that the Mustangs would be 19-5 on Feb. 12, 2025, as a first-year member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, they likely would have been ecstatic.

Perhaps the furthest thing from their minds would have been the NCAA Tournament bubble. In this new reality, though, that’s exactly where SMU finds itself.

In Year One of the Andy Enfield era, the Mustangs have been very solid, although they’re still searching for their first signature victory.

They returned three starters from coach Rob Lanier’s final squad, which went 20-13 and finished fifth in the 14-team AAC: guards Chuck Harris and B.J. Edwards, and forward Keon Ambrose-Hylton. Because of roster upgrades during the offseason, Harris and Ambrose-Hylton are now mostly coming off the bench.

Despite the upward mobility of its conference alignment, and thanks to the addition of 10 new faces, SMU has managed to improve.

“We’re enjoying the first year in the ACC,” Enfield said recently. “Really proud of our team to be 5-1 on the road right now in conference play. Credit to them; they’ve kept their focus and have done things to give themselves a chance to win road games. We didn’t know what to expect this year. We have 10 new players — really, credit to our team and our coaching staff.”

As college basketball fans have witnessed all season, this is not the ACC of old. Even with just three conference losses — two to clear-cut NCAA Tournament teams (#3 Duke, Louisville), and the other to a fellow bubble team (North Carolina) — SMU consistently finds itself among the “First Four Out” in most bracket projections.

So, how can the Mustangs get in?

Keep winning. Enfield’s team entered mid-February on a five-game winning streak, including a 20-point annihilation of another fellow bubble team, Pittsburgh. With no second shot at Duke on the regular-season schedule, however, SMU’s opportunities to pick up a marquee win are dwindling.

A Feb. 22 home game with #23 Clemson is the biggest remaining opportunity before the ACC Tournament, and a bout with fellow bubble squad Wake Forest this Saturday could prove important, as well. To become one of the ACC teams in the Big Dance this year, SMU likely will need to play its best basketball in those two games and avoid upsets in its other five regular-season contests.

To do that, the Mustangs will lean on their backcourt. Kevin “Boopie” Miller, a Wake Forest transfer, is the team’s leading scorer at around 13 points per game. He and Edwards form a formidable starting backcourt, as Edwards leads the ACC in steals. Add Harris into the mix off the bench, and the backcourt can do some damage in the boxscore.

SMU offers a wonderfully balanced scoring distribution. Six players average 10 or more points per game; that’s the most double-figure scorers on any team in the country. The Mustangs also lead the ACC in scoring, at 82.8 points per game.

One reason for that is 7-foot-2 center Samet Yigitoglu, a soon-to-be 21-year-old freshman whose intimidating size can be difficult for smaller teams to handle. He will be crucial in SMU’s matchup against Clemson’s Viktor Lakhin, who recently scored 22 points against both Duke and UNC in back-to-back wins for the Tigers.

2024-25 SMU Mustangs
(19-5, 10-3 ACC; through Feb. 14)

STARTERS (stats = current 2024-25 numbers)

PG Boopie Miller, r-Jr. (6-0/175) — 2024 Wake Forest transfer (starter)
28 mpg, 13 ppg, 3 rpg, 40% FG, 83% FT, 36% threes, 137/53 ATO, 8 blocks, 39 steals

G B.J. Edwards*, Jr. (6-3/185) — 2023 Tennessee transfer (backup)
28 mpg, 10 ppg, 4 rpg, 50% FG, 79% FT, 33% threes, 89/39 ATO, 6 blocks, 54 steals

F Matt Cross, Ss. (6-7/230) — 2024 UMass transfer (2-year starter)
28 mpg, 12 ppg, 8 rpg, 51% FG, 70% FT, 40% threes, 42/37 ATO, 11 blocks, 21 steals

F Yoahn Traore, Jr. (6-11/235) — 2024 UCSB transfer (starter)
18 mpg, 7 ppg, 4 rpg, 48% FG, 66% FT, 34% threes, 12/15 ATO, 6 blocks, 4 steals

C Samet Yigitoglu, Fr. (7-2/265) — 2024 international signee (Turkey)
24 mpg, 11 ppg, 7 rpg, 57% FG, 61% FT, 33% threes, 26/28 ATO, 23 blocks, 12 steals

KEY RESERVES (stats = current 2024-25 numbers)

G Chuck Harris*, Ss. (6-4/190) — 2023 Butler transfer (3-year starter)
25 mpg, 12 ppg, 3 rpg, 46% FG, 83% FT, 46% threes, 46/38 ATO, 5 blocks, 18 steals

G Kario Oquendo, Sr. (6-4/220) — 2024 Oregon transfer (backup)
22 mpg, 10 ppg, 3 rpg, 49% FG, 86% FT, 44% threes, 21/22 ATO, 7 blocks, 22 steals

F Keon Ambrose-Hylton*, Ss. (6-9/220) — 2022 Alabama transfer (backup)
13 mpg, 4 ppg, 2 rpg, 53% FG, 58% FT, 25% threes, 9/13 ATO, 5 blocks, 3 steals

F Jerrell Colbert, r-Jr. (6-10/235) — 2024 Kansas State transfer (backup)
9 mpg, 3 ppg, 2 rpg, 60% FG, 70% FT, 0 threes, 5/18 ATO, 22 blocks, 8 steals

Departures from 2023-24: G Denver Anglin (r-Fr./transfer/Rice), C Xavier Foster (So./transfer/Radford), F Ja’Heim Hudson (Jr./transfer/Auburn), G Emory Lanier (Sr./transfer/Rice), C Mo Njie (Jr./transfer/UTSA), G Zhuric Phelps* (Jr./transfer/Texas A&M), G Jalen Smith (Jr./transfer/Rice), F Tyreek Smith (Sr./transfer/Memphis), F Samuell Williamson* (Ss./Netherlands), G Ricardo Wright (Sr./transfer/Kennesaw State)

*—2023-24 starter (started at least 50% of the Mustangs’ games last season)

SMU Mustangs
10-Year Snapshot

Season: Overall, League (Place), Postseason

2023-24: 20-13, 11-7 AAC (5th), NIT first round (Rob Lanier)
2022-23: 10-22, 5-13 AAC (10th), no postseason (Rob Lanier)
2021-22: 24-9, 13-4 AAC (2nd), NIT Sweet 16 (Tim Jankovich)
2020-21: 11-6, 7-4 AAC (4th), NIT first round (Tim Jankovich)
2019-20: 19-11, 9-9 AAC (7th), COVID (Tim Jankovich)
2018-19: 15-17, 6-12 AAC (9th), no postseason (Tim Jankovich)
2017-18: 17-16, 6-12 AAC (9th), no postseason (Tim Jankovich)
2016-17: 30-5, 17-1 AAC* (1st*), NCAA Round of 64 (Tim Jankovich)
2015-16: 25-5, 13-5 AAC (2nd), ineligible for postseason (Larry Brown)
2014-15: 27-7, 15-3 AAC* (1st*), NCAA Round of 64 (Larry Brown)

*—conference champion (regular-season and/or tournament)

NOTE: Please visit the North Carolina Sports Network’s 2024-25 profiles and 10-year snapshots (links below) for all 19 Division One men’s basketball programs in North Carolina and all 18 Atlantic Coast Conference programs.

Appalachian State Mountaineers, Sun Belt Conference

Boston College Eagles, Atlantic Coast Conference

California Golden Bears, Atlantic Coast Conference

Campbell Camels, Coastal Athletic Association

Charlotte 49ers, American Athletic Conference

Clemson Tigers, Atlantic Coast Conference

Duke Blue Devils, Atlantic Coast Conference

East Carolina Pirates, American Athletic Conference

Elon Phoenix, Coastal Athletic Association

Florida State Seminoles, Atlantic Coast Conference

Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs, Big South Conference

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Atlantic Coast Conference