SMU claims outright regular season title and will go into the AAC basketball tournament as No. 1 seed thanks to Senior Day win.
The SMU Mustangs are the outright regular season champions of the American Athletic Conference after defeating Memphis, 103-62, on Saturday afternoon.
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SMU jumped on Memphis from the start and had a 24-point lead at halftime thanks in part to 10-of-17 shooting from three. The Mustangs kept their foot on the gas pedal the rest of the way to ensure that they would leave as the regular season conference champions.
Sterling Brown had a memorable senior day, scoring 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting, including 4-of-8 from three. Semi Ojeleye scored 19 while Ben Moore and Jarrey Foster each scored 16 points.
SMU already had a share of the league title clinched but thanks to the win Saturday, they’ve won the regular season AAC title for the second time.
SMU previously won the regular season title in 2015, which was also the same season they won the AAC Tournament title. The Mustangs win Saturday means Cincinnati cannot clinch even a share of the title.
SMU also has the top seed in the AAC Tournament, which starts Thursday. Cincinnati has the No. 2 seed. Memphis faces a lot of trouble of its own. The loss to SMU drops the Tigers to 9-9 in conference play.
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Memphis faces a lot of trouble of its own. The loss to SMU drops the Tigers to 9-9 in conference play. It also means a UConn win over Cincinnati will give the Huskies the fifth seed over Memphis and a first round bye. Memphis needs both UConn and Tulsa to lose in order to get the fifth seed and a first-round bye. Memphis would be sixth in this instance and would have to play South Florida in the first round. The Tigers can drop no further than sixth in the seeding. However, if Tulsa defeats Tulane and UConn loses to Cincinnati, it means there will be three teams tied at 9-9. That scenario would give the fifth seed to Tulsa.