Where: Madison Square Garden, New York

When: Thursday at 6 PM Central

Watch: ESPN2 Listen: 770AM

The SMU hoops squad should feel pretty confident walking into Madison Square Garden on Thursday night despite never having played Pittsburgh in program history. Not that a 2-0 start is a huge feat to write home about but Pitt has only just squeaked away from games with Eastern Michigan and Gardner-Webb to earn their own 2-0 start so the Mustang’s chances of tacking on a third W look good.

After a worrisome first half against Gardner-Webb that left them trailing headed into the locker room, the Mustangs have played solid fundamental basketball. While Pitt is adjusting to a new head coach just like SMU, the Mustangs’ coaching transition was seamless and, to use head coach Tim Jankovich’s words, “comfortable.” The matchup is a reunion between the two coaches as Jankovich served as an assistant coach under Kevin Stallings at Vanderbilt from 1999-2003.

From just the first two games of their season, Pitt looks like a weak team defensively but is vastly better on offense, ranking in the top 25 in points per game with 96. Coach Stallings’ offense takes a lot of shots and the Panthers displayed good shooting ability against Eastern Michigan, shooting nearly 54 percent from the field. Pitt scored 99 points against Gardner-Webb but allowed an inexcusable 80 points.

While SMU is depending on a lot of young talent to carry the team this season, Pitt’s four seniors, Jamel Artis, Sheldon Jeter, Chris Jones and Michael Young, have accounted for 65.6 percent of their scoring through their first two games. Young is one of 13 returning players in the NCAA to average at least 15.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game last season and he was named ACC Player of the Week on Monday after a 26-point game against E. Michigan and an 18 point game against GW.

The Mustangs and Panthers are similarly built through the roster with a majority of the players for both teams checking in between 6-feet-4 and 6-feet-9, this will be one of the few out of conference opponents that SMU can physically match up with. With height being a non-factor, the shooting of Pitt can come into play as they have been able to light up the scoreboard through two games, the excellent man defense that Jankovich has installed as a coach will be tested.

The matchup to watch will be the battle down low between Semi Ojeleye and one of three All-ACC returners, Young. He is a tough physical pretense in the paint and one that will demand Ojeley’s attention on both ends.

Prediction: SMU 67 Pitt 59