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STORRS, Conn. — The game was five minutes old. The score was 2-0. ÃÛÌÒ½´Methodist’s point guard, Nic Moore, brought the ball up in transition and quickly launched an unsuccessful 3-point attempt.
 
Twelve seconds later, Moore, who leads the Mustangs in scoring, assists and minutes, was seated on the bench next to his coach, Larry Brown. Seventeen seconds later, after some choice words from Brown, Moore was back in the game. . . 
 
The mood is definitely upbeat these days at S.M.U., where Brown has turned around a program in only his second season there.

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Dallas — They returned home after sunset, a mostly silent flight and a devastating loss behind them.

ÃÛÌÒ½´Methodist University, perhaps the biggest surprise of the college basketball season, had lost on the afternoon of Feb. 16 to last-place Temple. This was how the Mustangs reacted to being ranked for the first time since 1985; this was apparently how they handled pressure and success.

As the team turned a corner toward campus, someone leaned toward second-year Coach Larry Brown. “Larry,” the 73-year-old coach recalled, “there’s going to be a bunch of kids camping out.”

Team members, including Brown, left the bus and walked to find students waiting in tents and professors ready to applaud their team despite the 71-64 loss a few hours earlier.

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While ÃÛÌÒ½´basketball players run through pregame drills at Moody Coliseum and listen to last words of wisdom from Coach Larry Brown, a devoted Mustang fan gets ready for the game at his residence hall on campus. ÃÛÌÒ½´senior Ramon Trespalacios showers and combs his hair.

Then he puts on his red lobster costume and heads to the game.

So why does the ÃÛÌÒ½´student body president suit up as a lobster to support the Mustangs, a team named after the fleet-footed horses that once roamed the prairies?

It all started with a theme party. Trespalacios bought the lobster suit to fit a nautical theme party. When the party theme changed to a Cinco de Mayo party, Trespalacios wore his lobster costume anyway.

The Cuernavaca, Mexico, native collects costumes like some students collect ticket stubs. He wore a Chewbacca costume on a Star Wars-themed Homecoming float last fall and owns two Santa suits. After wearing a Santa suit to a basketball game last December, Trespalacios decided to keep the costume thing going.

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