Southern Methodist
Southern Methodist

Southern Methodist Team Report

Updated: March 26, 2012 10:35 EST

THE GOOD NEWS: Junior G London Giles, who averaged 10.0 points a game in his first season after transferring Nevada, was one of five players who averaged 20 or more minutes this season who will be back in 2012-13. Sophomore G Jeremiah Samarrippas, who averaged 6.9 points and 4.2 rebounds, is another, along with freshman G Jalen Jones (8.0 ppg) and sophomore F Shawn Williams (5.6 ppg), a transfer from Texas. Blaise Mbargorba, a 7-foot center from The Peddie School in Highstown, N.J., is a four-star recruit and leads a class that includes SF Uche Ofoegbe from John Paul Stevens High School in San Antonio and SG Brian Bernardi from Xaverian High School in Brooklyn, N.Y. F Nick Russell, a transfer from Kansas State, will become eligible next season and have two years remaining. He averaged 3.0 points a game in his two seasons at Kansas State. Moody Coliseum is scheduled to get a $40 million facelift over the summer.

THE BAD NEWS: SMU loses its only consistent scoring threat in senior F Robert Nyakundi. He averaged a team-best 14.8 points a game and shot 41.4 percent from the floor. Giles, who averaged just 10.0 points a game, is the closest thing SMU has to a go-to guy on offense, and his numbers trailed off badly once Conference USA play began.

KEY RETURNEES: Giles will be counted on, at least early next season, to be the primary scorer. Samarrippas is a good distributor at the point, and he may be asked to shoot more. Jones has scoring potential as a shooting guard, and SMU hopes Williams will become more comfortable after being inconsistent in his first season following his transfer from Texas.

PLAYER NOTES:

--Senior F Robert Nyakundi scored 10 points in his final game with SMU, a 74-56 loss to Marshall in the first round of the Conference USA tournament. Nyakundi scored in double figures in each of his last four games, averaging 16.5 points a game to finish the season with a 14.8-point scoring average.

--Senior G Rodney Clinkscales ended his career with three straight double-digit scoring games, averaging 12.7 points a game in that span to raise his season average to 4.3. Clinkscales had not scored in double figures in his first 24 games until his season-ending run.

--Junior G London Giles failed to score in double figures in his last four games and was held scoreless in two of them. He averaged 4.3 points a game in that span to lower his season average to 10.0.