Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

When: 6:00 P.M. CT

Where to Watch: ESPN 2

Thursday night in the mecca of basketball in the heart of New York City both Michigan and SMU looked dominate in their respective wins against Marquette and Pittsburgh.

Starting with the Mustangs, Shake Milton was aggressive early in the game with two quick buckets and then was hit with two very questionable foul calls that resulted in Tim Jankovich sitting him down for a majority of the first half. Aside from a few unadvised rushed shots by Ben Emelogu and Semi Ojeleye in transition, the offense looked good as they cruised to a 16-0 run in the first half to erase a Pitt lead.

In the second half SMU’s defense showed up and helped shut down the hot Pitt shooting, the scoring from the Mustangs was fairly even and the best part is that two freshman shined on the big stage. Harry Froling and Dashawn McDowell played a combined 23 minutes in what was easily their best games of the year as SMU took home a 76-67 victory.

As for the mighty men of Michigan, they handled Marquette by jumping out to a big 50-26 lead in the first half thanks to D.J. Wilson and his huge effort on the boards as the junior finished with 12 rebounds. The scoring came in bunches from Zak Irvin and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman who combined for 31 points as Michigan cruised to a 79-61 win.

The game tonight will be a real test for SMU. The Mustangs have yet to play a team both this big and this talented. Their game against Pittsburgh was almost like they were playing a clone of themselves, on Friday night the Wolverines are rolling out a lineup that has 6-feet-10 Wilson and 6-feet-11 Moritz Wagner. Wilson is the more skilled and better athlete than his towering teammate, but the sheer size is something that Ben Moore and Ojeleye could struggle with.

Michigan getting SMU in foul trouble early is something that they should focus on if they want to to win this one. Forcing the young Froling, who did play well in his last game, into the game in relief of a two foul Moore will mean he is matched up with players who have a lot more experience than he does.

Milton for the Mustangs has to play clean defense tonight and stay on the floor as much as he can. While SMU can manage to hang in games when he is not in, Milton remains the truest point guard on this team and they need to have his facilitation on the court at all times. That won’t be a an easy order though because he will be matched up with the 6-feet-6 Irvin. Through three games he is averaging 14 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists. It will be a great back and forth between the promising sophomore and the established senior.

With SMU allowing just 58.3 points per game on defense, while shooting 48.5 percent from the field, they have to continue to abide by their formula. Play terrific man defense and help on assignments, while taking quality smart shots on offense.

Prediction:

SMU wins the 2K Classic and moves to 4-0

Mustangs 75 Wolverines 63