SMU did what good teams are supposed to do on a Tuesday night: it took care of business, buried the game early enough to remove any real doubt, and walked away with a result that only sharpened the sense that this group is moving in the right direction. The Mustangs beat Prairie View A&M 98-63 at Moody Coliseum in Dallas, and while the final margin is the loudest number, the cleaner story is that SMU now looks every bit like a team that expects to win rather than hopes to.
Jaden Toombs was the headline act. He led SMU with 18 points and nine rebounds, the kind of all-action contribution that makes a blowout feel controlled rather than merely comfortable. SMU opened up a 52-36 lead by halftime and then ripped the game apart with a 12-0 run in the second half, turning a solid advantage into a runaway. That is what maturity looks like in college basketball: no drama, no wobble, no invitation for the opponent to get ideas.
SMU kept its edge from start to finish
The Mustangs entered the night first in the ACC and on a three-game winning streak, and they played like a team that knew exactly what that meant. They are now 3-0, have won three straight, and remain 2-0 at home. That matters because early-season records can be flimsy, but this one has the shape of something sturdier: a team defending its floor, moving the ball well enough to create separation, and refusing to let a lesser opponent hang around.
Prairie View A&M, meanwhile, came in first in the SWAC but on a two-game losing streak, and the road numbers told their own story. The Panthers dropped to 2-2 and fell to 0-2 on the road. They were 2-0 at home, which is useful context, because this result was another reminder that home and away are not just details; sometimes they are the difference between looking competitive and looking exposed.
Prairie View A&M had no answer for the pace
For the Panthers, the night belonged to one player and not much else. Anthony Gause led Prairie View A&M with 14 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists, while Elijah Mitchell added 11 points, 4 assists and 4 blocks. Rowan Brumbaugh scored 9 points and grabbed 4 rebounds for SMU, another useful contribution in a game where the Mustangs had enough answers all over the floor to make the outcome feel inevitable long before the buzzer.
The basic truth is hard to dress up: SMU was better, sharper and more complete. Prairie View A&M had moments, but not enough of them, and certainly not enough to threaten the rhythm of the game. In the end, this was less about a surprise and more about separation. SMU looked like the team with higher standards, and it played to them.
Next up, SMU hosts Ball State on Friday, Nov. 13 at 9:00 p.m. ET, while Prairie View A&M visits Vanderbilt the same night at 7:00 p.m. ET. One side will try to keep the momentum rolling. The other will try to stop a slide that now looks a little more worrying than it did before tip-off.
