ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

March 11, 2026

Andy Enfield

Corey Washington

Spectrum Center

SMU Mustangs

Postgame Press Conference

Louisville 62, SMU 58

ANDY ENFIELD: Any questions?

Q. Andy, in the last couple minutes there, it felt like you guys had control for a lot of the game even if it was close. What do you feel like they were able to do to steal the win at the end?

ANDY ENFIELD: Well, the margin of error is very small in games like this, two very good basketball teams. It was a very physical game. Somehow we shot three free throws and they shot 20 and they had two team fouls with 30 seconds left in the game. I have never been in a college basketball game like that when they're grabbing and holding on every possession. I don't know how we only shot three free throws, they have two fouls.

So that was a big factor because Samet's fourth foul -- when he blocked a shot, he as called for a foul and we had to take him out of the game. And then the last -- we were up one with a minute and a half left, and we switched on a ball screen and Samet guarded Conwell, and he made a tough three over him, so they took the lead.

And then Boopie missed a shot, but because they only had two teams fouls, then they start fouling us, and we had to run a side out of bounds play so they couldn't foul us and we missed another shot.

So we had our chances if one of those shots goes in, and then Conwell drove and got the lay-up. Then we missed a couple more shots.

We played very hard. Our team played very good defense. We played exceptionally hard. The margin of error in these games is very small. Sometimes it's just a matter of one shot goes in on one end, and tonight it didn't go in and Boopie had two clean looks in the last minute, and then Jaron had a clean look and they didn't go in.

Q. Not only what you did in this game back and forth with Louisville but overall this season, just what you've shown nationally, what you think the Mustangs have been through, not only in this conference but stepping forward if there was a choice to bring you in?

ANDY ENFIELD: Well, I think our team has had a great year. We were 19-8 a couple weeks ago and then we had that serious injury with B.J. Edwards who was going to come back this week. If we kept playing in the tournament, we were hoping to get him back here in a day or two, by the end of the week.

First of all, we scheduled very difficult. Last year the SEC was the number one conference in college basketball, so we made a decision to play four SEC teams on the road in December, back to back to back to back. Four in a row against the SEC and none of them were at home.

We played at Big East team. We beat Texas A&M, neutral court by 13 when they had their full roster and Mgbako was still playing. We beat North Carolina by 14 when they had Caleb Wilson. We beat Louisville by 10 with Mikel Brown, and we had a lot of other great wins throughout the season.

So we're very proud of our players. We had an unfortunate injury that cost us a couple games here in the last couple weeks, last two weeks. We had to learn how to play without B.J. Edwards. The last two games -- I think you saw with the Syracuse game yesterday and the game today that we're an NCAA Tournament team. In fact we thought we could go to the Sweet 16 or beyond before the injury, and now that B.J. is coming back, we feel the same way.

We have enough Quad 1 wins. Our NET is in the mid 30s, and our offense has been top 20, was top 10 in the country before the injury.

I think as far as our schedule strength, the fact that we scheduled four SEC teams in a row, none at home, and have those quality Quad 1 and Quad 2 game wins, that our resume is probably better than some of the other teams in that area with where our NET is right now.

Q. Do you feel like you are a lock in your mind for the tournament?

ANDY ENFIELD: I can't say a lock. We feel very confidently that because of our schedule strength and the ACC was so outstanding this year, every game we played was a battle. And all the statistics that I just gave you, we feel very strongly that we deserve to be in. But it's not our decision, and we just hope that they look at the entire schedule and what happened.

Q. You've been through this many times. What do the next couple days look like? And Jaron, I asked him what it looks like for him, and he said sleep and play. How do you get your team through this?

ANDY ENFIELD: Well, it'll be a week where we go back and try to get healthy. This young man is one of the toughest young men I've ever coached in 31 years. He separated his shoulder a minute and a half left in the game and came back and put it back into place, and he wants to be in there the last two possessions.

So that says it all. What we'll do is try to go get healthy, get B.J. back, because B.J. will start working out this week. And we'll have a full roster come Sunday, and then if we make the tournament, then we'll get it going.

So we'll probably just get the guys in the weight room and do some shooting and keep them sharp. But other than that, some rest and some homework. Probably some tests and some papers they have to follow up on.

Q. Corey, can you just walk us through what happened on the injury, and did you think you were going to be done and you come back? How do you play through that?

COREY WASHINGTON: Well, the play was -- I saw that rebound reflection going towards the high post area, and I went to go make a play on that. And when I tried to bring the ball in from my right hand, I felt a pop in my shoulder. I just knew that something wasn't right, and pain immediately.

My mindset the whole time was just don't think about yourself at this moment. This is for them, for your team. You have to come back. Sitting out wasn't an option.

Q. Do you feel like you guys have done enough to make the tournament and why?

COREY WASHINGTON: Yes, of course. Just piggybacking on what Coach Andy said, I feel like our resume is really strong enough. It's not our decision, at the end of the day, but we're for sure one of the best teams. I'm very confident in it.