SMU Coach Andy Enfield Busy Building ACC Caliber Team

Mustangs add six players from transfer portal ahead of move to ACC

USC Trojans head coach Andy Enfield directs players during home game. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

DALLAS – There are only 54 days left until SMU officially joins the Atlantic Coast Conference and has to compete against some of the best men’s basketball programs in the nation.

New SMU coach Andy Enfield is busy making sure the Mustangs are ready to compete against blue blood programs Duke and North Carolina, as well as Syracuse, North Carolina State and Virginia. Only three Mustangs (Chuck Harris, BJ Edwards and Keon Ambrose-Hylton) will return from the 2023-2024 season, which means a long list of players won’t be returning to Dallas this fall.

That list includes Jalen Smith, Denver Anglin and Emory Lanier who are joining former SMU coach Rob Lanier at Rice and Zhuric Phelps is headed to Texas A&M. Tyreek Smith, Ricardo Wright, Mo Njie and Xavier Foster have yet to announce their intentions for next season.

However, Enfield has already begun adding players to help the Mustangs compete against some of the nation’s best teams. Enfield retained high school signees Mitchell Holmes (6-11, PF, Link Prep, Mo.) and Chance Puryear (6-7, SF, Carter High School, Dallas, Texas) and added six players from the transfer portal.

Here’s a breakdown of the transfer portal additions to the Mustangs’ men’s basketball program:

Jerrell Colbert, C

Previous School: Kansas State

2024 Stats: Appeared in 31 games with 13 starts and averaged 2.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.

Matthew Cross, F

Previous School: University of Massachusetts

2024 Stats: Averaged 15 points per game, 8.3 rebounds per game, 3.0 assists per game in 27 starts; Was named to first team All-Atlantic 10 Conference team.

AJ George, G

Previous School: Long Beach State

Hometown: Fresno, Calif.

2024 Stats: Averaged 10.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game in 36 games (17 starts) for Long Beach State after playing in 33 games in 2022-2023 and averaged 8.6 points and 3.1 rebounds per game.

Yohan Traore, F

Previous School: UC Santa Barbara

2024 Stats: Started all 30 games and averaged 14.5 points and 15.1 rebounds per game. He played the 2022-2023 season for Auburn, appearing in 25 games and averaged less than 10 minutes per game.

Kevin “Boopie” Miller, G

Previous School: Wake Forest

2024 Stats: Started all 35 games and averaged 15.6 points per game and 3.5 assists per game.

Averaged 15.6 points per game, 2.8 rebounds per game, 3.5 assists per game.

Kario Oquendo, SG

Previous School: Oregon

2024 Stats: Averaged 7.2 points, 2.4 per game and 1.0 assists per game in 36 games (three starts) for the Pac-12 tournament champions.