Not many would have thought that at the start of December the SMU Mustangs would be 4-3 and losers of three out of their last four games. Yet, here we are as the final month of the year is upon us and SMU is looking for a ridiculously long stretch of home games to help them bounce back and find a groove.

Over their next six games, all of which will be played at the comforting Moody Coliseum where the Ponies are 20-1 over their last 21 games, SMU will host CSU Bakersfield, Delaware State, TCU, McNeese State, Stanford and Albany. The two games to circle are obviously TCU and Stanford, but this series of homes games will give a good indicator as to how this team responds and then builds on the adversity of being 1-3 in their last four.

So the Mustangs start this homecoming with CSU Bakersfield, the Roadrunners currently hold a 5-3 record and hung in a close 78-66 game with Arizona before losing, and it should be a good one to watch.

CSUB has four experienced players on the team in seniors Matt Smith, Jaylin Airington Justin Pride and Dedrick Basile, and that seasoned kind of talent is something that SMU has struggled to counter this year as teams like Michigan absolutely took it to the Mustangs thanks to older players.

The scoring load for the Roadrunners will come by way of Airington and redshirt sophomore Damiyne Durham as both are averaging 17 points through eight games. Airington is a good shooter from deep, currently hitting just over 46 percent from three, and SMU has to work to contain him and his teammates who together put in 8 three-pointers a game. Durham on the other hand is a 6-foot-4, 175-pound guard from Oakwood, Texas, who loves to get to the free throw line and he is making 89 percent from the charity stripe on the year.

The leading rebounder for CSUB is 6-foot-6 and 200-pound Shon Biggs who pulls down a pedestrian six boards a night while posting just over seven points per game. Overall, this team is not very big and shouldn’t suffocate SMU in the paint which has happened in the last couple of games. The second leading rebounder for the Roadrunners also happens to be Airington with 5 boards a night making him the key defensive assignment on Friday night.

The way for the Mustangs to stop this team on offense will be to wear out Airington. Defensively SMU can throw Foster, Brown, Milton or Emelogu on him and that alone is a tough lineup of players to have to score on all night long, while also not forgetting that the only physically intimidating player on the roster, 6-foot-10 Moataz Aly, can easily be kept in check by Ben Moore and Ojeleye (who holds a 45-pound advantage) if they play smart.

SMU matches up similarly but the level of athlete the Mustangs are wheeling out will be too much for CSUB and even the shallow Pony bench can outplay the Roadrunner reserves.

SMU rights the ship with an 82-66 victory.