Game 7: Vanderbilt Commodores at SMU Mustangs — Open Game Thread

The Vanderbilt Commodores go on the road for the second time this season, this time to Moody Coliseum in Dallas University Park, Texas, where they’ll play the 6-3 SMU Mustangs. SMU comes in having won three in a row, against the murderer’s row of Sam Houston State, Louisiana-Monroe, and UNLV; their three losses just happened to come against the three decent teams they’ve played, and calling Missourah (spits) “decent” is a stretch after they scored 14 points in the first half against Liberty the other night and also lost by 15 to UMKC.

Anyway, KenPom sees SMU winning this game 71-69 and the oddsmakers pegged the Ponies as a 3.5-point favorite, up to 5.5 points at the time of this writing (a little before 2 PM today if you’re curious.) But aside from the basketball, I’d be remiss not to mention the story of how SMU was founded, effectively as Vanderbilt’s replacement after the latter broke from the Methodist Church in the early part of the 20th century. No word on whether SMU students will greet Vanderbilt with a chant of “Down with the heathen, up with the Church!”

Let’s get a win, shall we?