SMU Basketball Is Entering The National Spotlight Under Andy Enfield

DALLAS – SMU basketball is no longer just trying to prove it belongs in the ACC. The Mustangs are starting to look like a program the networks expect people to watch.

That became clear with the release of the 2026-27 television schedule, which includes 25 nationally televised regular-season games and every ACC matchup on a major network platform.

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MORE: SMU Basketball Lands 25 National TV Games For 2026-27 Season

For Andy Enfield, that kind of exposure is more than a scheduling note. It’s another sign of how quickly SMU’s profile has changed.

The Mustangs are entering Enfield’s third season after making the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017.

SMU also produced two wins over ranked opponents last season and returned to both the AP Top 25 and USA Today Coaches Poll for the first time in nine years.

Now the schedule gets even bigger.

SMU will host Duke at Moody Coliseum on Feb. 9 in an ESPN game, while road trips to North Carolina, Virginia and Louisville are also scheduled for ESPN-family networks.

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That’s the kind of visibility that matters in recruiting, branding and perception.

“We want to continue building this program at the highest level,” has been the message around Enfield’s tenure, and national television exposure gives SMU another tool to do exactly that.

The Mustangs also have major non-conference opportunities against Oklahoma, LSU, Utah State, Minnesota, UNLV and DePaul before ACC play fully takes over the calendar.

That matters because SMU isn’t just trying to stack wins. It’s trying to build a résumé that holds up nationally.

The roster reflects that ambition, too. SMU enters the season with a transfer class ranked among the nation’s best, and the program is coming off a year in which it finished among the top 30 nationally in scoring, assists, field-goal percentage and three-point percentage.

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The next step is obvious.

SMU has already shown it can get to the NCAA Tournament.

MORE: SMU’s Rhett Lashlee Highlights Key Takeaway…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/smu-basketball-entering-national-spotlight-114409418.html

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Publish date : 2026-10-08 11:44:00

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