Following a 73-65 win over UIC on Wednesday night, Southern Methodist University head coach and Hall of Fame member Larry Brown took issue with the NCAA’s new, stringent defensive rules.
”If Allen Iverson played today, he’d average 3,000 points,” Brown said. ”I understand the intent of this rule, but there’s no flow to basketball anymore.”
Nic Moore scored 20 points and dished out seven assists to lead SMU over UIC in the first-ever meeting between the programs.Markus Kennedy added 11 points and seven rebounds for the Mustangs.SMU (8-2), playing for the fourth time in six days, won its third straight game behind balanced scoring. Ten Mustangs scored in the first half and 11 reached the scoring column for the game. SMU shot 54.2 percent from the floor.The teams combined for 39 personal fouls and 44 free throw attempts.Kelsey Barlow scored a game-high 31 for UIC (3-5). The senior poured in a career-high 38 last Wednesday in a 94-78 victory.Barlow was 12 for 15 from the free-throw line. He went 17 for 19 in his 38-point performance.SMU jumped to a 12-0 lead, taking advantage of a rusty UIC team that hadn’t played in a week.The Flames battled back to tie the game three separate times in the second half, but SMU found an answer each time UIC tried to seize momentum.More often than not, Moore was that answer.Four of Moore’s six second-half field goals came with SMU leading by at least two points. Two were 3-pointers.The undersized Flames also struggled to find an answer for 6-foot-11 Yanick Moreira, who scored the Mustangs’ first six points, cleaning up on the offensive glass. Moreira finished with nine points and seven rebounds.Barlow, coming off a career-high 38 points a week ago in a 94-78 drubbing of Wagner, continued draining shots with ease, but his teammates struggled to follow suit, going 8 for 28 from 3-point range for the game, and their coach let them hear ii.
The Flames shot 35.7 percent from the floor overall.