"I felt like (Nebraska) would've been right there with SMU, a place I could've chosen. Being a hometown kid and wanting them to be successful, and Anton Gill's one of my best friends; Isaac Copeland is a good friend of mine. I know a bunch of those guys. It's home, only an hour from Omaha. My girlfriend goes to Lincoln and plays softball there. I just have family and everything around here, a lot of good people. It definitely would've been something I would've 100 percent looked into."

On what drew him to SMU:

"They don't just say you're a 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5. Which I like. I've always been someone that's able to do multiple things on the floor, so that allows me to dribble, take guys off the dribble, make open shots, post up. It has me all over the place where I can showcase a lot of different facets of my game. With the next level, that's what they like guys to have in my position."

On the importance winning played in his decision:

"One hundred percent. I've learned when you win, it makes a lot of other things happen. From when I first started playing basketball, I've won — what I did at Central, my first year at Louisville. We just had a tough road at Georgetown, not winning those past two years. It wasn't something I was used to, something I wanted to change.

"(SMU) has been one of the winningest programs the past four years, 30-5 last year, 17-1 in their conference. Obviously they're really good. ... The opportunity to win the conference like they did last year — the regular season and possibly the tournament — and then get a chance to go back to the NCAA (tournament) since I haven't been there since my freshman year when we went to the Sweet 16 at Louisville. That's something I really want to do. That was really big for me."