The crowd noise inside Moody Coliseum swelled as No. 25 SMU found the right time to unleash the pressure needed to stop the American Athletic Conference's top team.
Midway through the second half, the Mustangs started to buckle down against No. 11 Cincinnati, the only team to beat SMU during conference play. With each successive defensive stop and ensuing basket, SMU's lead grew. It became apparent that the Mustangs were on their way to taking the top spot in conference standings.
SMU topped the Bearcats 60-51 and showed it might have the team and defense required to win the AAC and earn a decent NCAA tournament seed.