Men's Basketball Sports

Preview: Houston looks to bounce back against SMU

Redshirt freshman guard Caleb Mills enters Wednesday’s game against SMU averaging 22.5 points per game in the last two games | Kathryn Lenihan/ The Cougar

Redshirt freshman guard Caleb Mills enters Wednesday’s game against SMU averaging 22.5 points per game in the last two games | Kathryn Lenihan/ The Cougar

Houston is back at Fertitta Center on Wednesday night to take on its interstate rival SMU as it looks to bounce back after suffering its first conference loss of the season on Saturday against Tulsa.

The Cougars enter the game winners of six of the last seven games, despite the recent loss to the Golden Hurricane.

Redshirt freshman Caleb Mills has hit a groove offensively in the past two contests, scoring a career-high 23 points in the win against Temple and 22 in the loss to Tulsa.

Sophomore guard DeJon Jarreau broke out of his slump offensively in Saturday’s loss to Tulsa as he scored a season-high 16 points on 54.5 percent shooting, and according to head coach Kelvin Sampson, that game is following his best performance of the season.

“The best game DeJon has played is against Temple because he had no turnovers,” Sampson said.

Jarreau had three turnovers in the game against Tulsa.

A look at SMU

The Mustangs enter the game with a 12-3 record that is good for No. 3 in the American.

SMU has won four of their last five games, but enter Wednesday’s game following a 71-68 loss at East Carolina on Saturday afternoon.

This season, sophomore guard Kendric Davis leads the Mustangs with 16.3 points and 7.2 assists per game. Sophomore forward Feron Hunt leads the team with 7.9 rebounds and 0.9 blocks per game.

Head Coach Tim Jankovich is in his fifth season at SMU and his 13th season as a collegiate head coach.

Trivia between the two teams

The Cougars lead the all-time  series 52-32 over the Mustangs.

The two teams will play each other twice this season, including another meeting on Feb. 15.

Houston has won the last five meetings in a row against SMU, including a 90-79 win in March of 2019.

The game will be shown on both ESPN2 and ESPNU and can be heard on KPRC 950 AM at 8 p.m. CST.

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