A stomach bug couldn’t stop Jahmal McMurray. Neither could Tulane.

After missing the pregame shootaround due to illness, McMurray was hot all game long, scoring 25 points as SMU survived a late run by the Green Wave to win 74-65 in New Orleans.

McMurray got going early, making his first 3-pointer one minute into the game. He followed that up with another 3-pointer nearly a minute later. McMurray scored 13 points in the first half, leading SMU to a 35-25 lead.

Early in the game, SMU shot the ball well, but that changed as the game went on. Tulane’s length caused issues for SMU’s shooters and the Mustangs struggled inside of the paint, missing layups and close shots time and time again. Many times, those shots rolled back right into their hands, as the team grabbed 10 offensive rebounds and 26 total rebounds in the first half.

Jimmy Whitt’s night mirrored that of the Mustangs’. Coming into the game, he was making 57.5 percent of his shots. In the first half, Whitt made just one of seven attempts but gathered seven rebounds. He finished with a double-double, scoring 11 points on 4-13 shooting while grabbing 11 rebounds. He also dished out five assists.

Defensively, SMU was all over Tulane’s shooters, as the Green Wave hit just eight of its 29 shots in the first half.

SMU continued to smother the Green Wave in the first few minutes of the second half, allowing just one made field goal over an 11-3 run that saw its lead stretch to 46-28. It remained a double-digit game until the 4:35 mark, when Tulane guard Shakwon Barrett hit a 3-pointer, his only made shot of the night, off of an SMU turnover to pull Tulane within nine, at 63-54. His basket marked roughly the midpoint of a 14-4 Tulane run that cut SMU’s lead from 16 to six, 65-59, with a little more than three minutes left.

Over that span, SMU missed five of its seven shots and turned the ball over three times, leading to five Tulane points. The Green Wave employed a full-court press, which gave the Mustangs fits. Two of those turnovers came before SMU’s ball handlers even crossed mid-court, leading to easy looks for the Green Wave.

Defensively, the Mustangs struggled to stop guard Caleb Daniels and forward Samir Sehic, who scored 10 and 14 points in the second half, respectively.

Ethan Chargois helped the Mustangs out of their funk by hitting a 3-pointer that increased SMU’s lead to nine with just over two minutes left. After that, Tulane’s comeback hopes fell victim to a flurry of free-throws induced by intentional fouls.

After out rebounding Tulane by eight in the first half, SMU was nearly doubled up in the second half, as the Green Wave garnered 25 rebounds to SMU’s 13. Secic grabbed 11 of those and bullied SMU’s big men inside of the paint. He finished with 20 points.

Chargois and Jarrey Foster both battled foul trouble in the second half. Foster hit a 3-pointer, but only made three of 10 shots and missed a dunk. He scored just eight points. Chargois was the Mustangs’ second-leading scorer with 14 points.

It was McMurray’s tenth straight game with 10 or more points.

SMU improves to 10-4 on the season and 2-0 on conference play. The team has won eight of its last nine games. It travels to Connecticut Thursday, where it’ll take on the UConn Huskies.