DALLAS (AP) — Nic Moore, Sterling Brown and Markus Kennedy each scored 13 points and No. 17 SMU beat South Florida 72-58 on Saturday night in head coach Larry Brown's first home game of the season.
SMU improved to 13-0 — the best start in school history — and 2-0 in the American Athletic Conference. The Mustangs are one of three unbeaten Division I teams along with No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 24 South Carolina.
Brown missed the Mustangs' first seven games at Moody Coliseum while serving a nine-game NCAA suspension. Associate head coach Tim Jankovich, a Division I head coach for nine seasons before joining Brown at SMU in 2012, coached the Mustangs in Brown's absence.
When the NCAA ruled in September that SMU was guilty of rules violations that included academic fraud and unethical conduct, it also barred the Mustangs from postseason play this season.
Jahmal McMurray led South Florida (3-12, 0-2) with 17 points. Chris Perry and Bo Zeigler added 12 each.