Southern Methodist @ Central Florida preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 8, 2020 ) Central Florida 74, Southern Methodist 81

SMU tries to rebound from a crushing defeat when it starts a two-game trip to the Sunshine State with an American Athletic Conference matchup against struggling Central Florida on Wednesday night. The Mustangs led by 24 points with under 14 minutes left against Wichita State on Sunday at home before coughing up the advantage and suffering a 66-62 setback to remain at 19 wins.

“We struggled to score and that’s the story of the game,” SMU coach Tim Jankovich told reporters after his team’s third loss in four games. “Give (Wichita State) credit for hitting a bunch of shots, but none of that would have mattered if we had just a remotely normal clip in the last six or seven minutes.” The Mustangs, who play at South Florida on Saturday to end the regular season, beat UCF 81-74 on Jan. 8 and are tied for fifth in the AAC with their NCAA Tournament hopes needing a huge boost in the next two weeks. The Knights started the season 9-2, but have won back-to-back games just twice since and are saddled with three consecutive losses after Saturday’s 65-54 setback at co-AAC leader Tulsa in which they turned the ball over 20 times. “We just haven’t had the consistency that I would want from my team. I think (Saturday) kind of exemplified that,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins told the Orlando Sentinel. “We had moments where we played terrific basketball, but it wasn’t consistent. I talked to our guys at the end of the game about how we played the last eight minutes. That’s how we have to be for 40 minutes.”

TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: None

ABOUT SMU (19-9, 9-7 AAC): Junior forward Isiaha Mike led the way with 23 points on 10-of-18 shooting (3-of-7 from 3-point range) in Sunday’s loss to push his season average to 14.1, third-most for the balanced Mustangs. Sophomore point guard Kendric Davis tops the team in scoring (14.8) and the AAC in assists (6.8), but is shooting 35.2 percent from the field in his last five games, while junior guard Tyson Jolly (14.5 points) was held to 3-of-9 shooting Sunday. Sophomore forward Feron Hunt leads the team in rebounds (6.7) and adds 11.2 points per game, but just 3.8 over his last four contests.

ABOUT CENTRAL FLORIDA (14-14, 5-11): Junior Collin Smith is the only player averaging double figures scoring (12.4) for the Knights and the 6-11 forward had just five points against Tulsa after recording 15.5 per game the previous four. Junior guard Ceasar DeJesus is second on the team in scoring (9.8) and freshman guard Darin Green Jr. (9.5) shoots 40.1 percent from 3-point range after going 21-for-40 in his last seven contests. Senior guard Dazon Ingram, a transfer from Alabama, does a little of everything for the Knights while averaging 8.3 points along with team highs of 7.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. UCF junior G Brandon Mahan is averaging 12.8 points over the last four games after pouring in 15 versus Tulsa.

2. SMU leads the league in scoring (73.9), field-goal percentage (45.4), free-throw percentage (76.7) and assists (15.8).

3. Knights senior G Matt Milon recorded a season-high 19 points in the earlier loss at SMU, but was scoreless against Tulsa.

PREDICTION: SMU 70, Central Florida 62