The SMU men's basketball team already has a pair of ACC games, and wins, under its belt, but Saturday brings in the class of the conference as it is all league play from here on out.

No. 4 Duke comes to Moody Coliseum on Saturday at 1:15 p.m. There is nothing head coach Andy Enfield or his staff have to say to the Mustangs about the 25-time conference tournament champions and five-time NCAA champions that they aren't already aware of.

"I think it's no secret that Duke's ranked (fourth) in the nation and they're a great team," Enfield said. "They've been, historically, one of the best programs in the country the last 25, 30 years. So, they know that. We don't need to mention that to them, they know that."

While SMU doesn't have that kind of resume, it has a veteran team. There are 12 players who are at least juniors, including six seniors. That's something the Mustangs can lean on in this kind of matchup.

"We have guys that have played in many big games in their career and will respect the atmosphere and appreciate the atmosphere and appreciate and respect the opponent," Enfield said. "But once that ball is tipped, it's who's going to play better, who's going to be tougher, who's going to make the shots, make the right pass at the right time, who's going to defend at the highest level, who's going to get that rebound, make the look, do little things to win a game."

Junior guard Boopie Miller played Duke twice last season, including an 83-79 win when he was at Wake Forest. Miller had 15 points and five assists with just one turnover in that victory. 

"It means a lot. I beat them once, so I'm trying to beat them another time," Miller said. "So, just giving my teammates that type of energy and just giving them that knowledge about beating those type of teams. I feel like when we beat that type of team, we're going to be very, very good."

Another Mustang with experience in these types of games is Matt Cross. He was on the roster when Miami beat Duke as a true freshman and played in 18 minutes off the bench with Louisville the following year. 

Even though the Blue Devils are able to build on the success of past seasons and have the history behind them, it is still a young team. That's an advantage for SMU.

"If our team sits down and looks at it as like, 'Hey, we're an old team, we're experienced," Cross said. "They might be talented young guys, but you can exploit young guys, no matter what their talent is. I feel like we can really do that because they're big like us, but sometimes you have that weight and that physicality over guys that are four years younger than you."

Duke's two leading scorers are both true freshmen. Cooper Flagg was the No. 1 overall recruit last year and is living up to it with 16.9 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. Behind him is Kon Knueppel with 12.2 points per game.

But they aren't a one or two-man show.

"He does a lot of things," Enfield said of Flagg. "He leads their team in about six or seven categories. We understand, but Duke is not Cooper Flagg, it's Duke as a team. They have nine or 10 other really good players. We'll try to come up with a game plan to try and make it as hard as they can to score the ball on us."

The Mustangs have also become a balanced team. Five players average in double figures with another two over eight points per game. They also have players like Kario Oquendo who went to the NCAA tournament with Oregon last year and Jerrell Colbert started against then-No. 4 Kansas when he was with Kansas State a season ago. 

But none of that would matter if the Mustangs weren't able to bring it all together. That's what SMU has done over the last month after figuring some things out and missing some pieces earlier in the season.

"Our team has really improved," Enfield said. "We are a totally different team than we were when we started the season. A lot of that is an improvement on defense. Other than (Sunday's) slippage, we've been defending at a very high level the last five, six games. Offensively, we're sharing the ball. They know what it takes, the formula for success, defensively and offensively and they're buying into it and it's a fun group to coach."

The Mustangs enter the game on a seven-game winning streak and are 2-0 in the ACC. But this is a different challenge. But it's one that SMU knew was coming, and wanted, when it came into the league.

"This is what we signed up for," Enfield said. "Have a battle for first place in the ACC. It's a young season, we have a long way to go, but it's obviously a big game for everybody."