Upstart SMU, Wake Forest battle for fourth in ACC

SMU will go for its sixth consecutive win and try to maintain fourth place in the Atlantic Coast Conference when it hosts Wake Forest on Saturday in Dallas.

The Mustangs (19-5, 10-3 ACC) have won eight of their past nine games and their past three games at home, including an 83-63 win over Pitt on Tuesday.

The Demon Deacons (18-7, 10-4) are coming off a 72-70 loss at home to Florida State on Wednesday. The loss snapped a three-game win streak. Florida State scored 18 points in the final four minutes, including scores on their final seven possessions to escape with the win.

"That was a really bad loss. It's probably the worst loss that I've had here. We have nobody to blame but ourselves," Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes said. "We gave up 51 points in the second half. We had no urgency to defend. ... It was just error after error. We had bad shots and turnovers on our end."

Wake Forest swept the only previous two games against SMU in 2002 and 2003.

Freshman center Samet Yigitoglu had 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting and 10 rebounds to lead SMU over Pitt. Yigitoglu has scored in double figures in his past seven games.

"We're the only team in the country to have six players to average in double figures," SMU coach Andy Enfield said. "So we don't rely on Samet or anybody else solely for our offensive production."

The Mustangs lead the ACC with 82.8 points per game. The Demon Deacons are holding opponents to 66.7 points per game, third-lowest in the conference.

SMU's leading scorer, guard Boopie Miller (13.4 points per game), transferred from Wake Forest last spring. He's fourth in the ACC with 5.7 assists per game.

Wake Forest leading scorer Hunter Sallis (18.5 points per game) scored 20 in the loss to Florida State. Cameron Hildreth has scored 20 or more points in four consecutive games, including 22 against the Seminoles.

--Field Level Media