Emoni Bates, Ypsi Prep lose to Duncanville basketball in Thanksgiving Hoopfest: Game thread

Emoni Bates will face off with another one of the nation's best prep basketball players, and teams, this weekend. This time, in an NBA arena.

The newly formed Ypsi Prep — featuring Bates, a top junior forward and Michigan State basketball commit — on Saturday plays Duncanville (Texas) High School as part of the Thanksgiving Hoopfest. (Last year, USA TODAY ranked the event, now in its 12th year, among the country's best high school basketball showcases.)

The Duncanville Panthers are led by five-star wing Ronald Holland, a consensus top-20 player of the 2023 class.

Saturday's 9 p.m. Eastern game, held at American Airlines Center, home of the Dallas Mavericks, will be the second time Bates suits up for Ypsi Prep. The new program faced the powerful Minnesota AAU program Team Sizzle in a Nov. 12 exhibition before a separate showcase earlier this week was canceled.

In the game against Team Sizzle, Bates battled top-five prospect Chet Holmgren, with each touted teen dropping 30-plus points in an ESPN2 broadcast. Jaden Akins, another Spartans commit, plays alongside Bates for Ypsi Prep. 

Saturday's game will be streamed on two different online services (FloHoops, SUVtv) that require a subscription, starting at $10. SUVtv has a deal with Ypsi Prep to broadcast its games this season.

How to watch Emoni Bates, Jaden Akins

Who: Ypsilanti Prep vs. Duncanville High School (Texas).

When: 8 p.m. CT/9 p.m. ET, Saturday, Nov. 28.

Where: American Airline Arena, Dallas, Texas.

How to watch: theSUVtv.com; flosports.com and the flosports app.

Not watching? Follow live updates at the bottom of this page.

The buzz: After facing one of the best teams in Minnesota, Ypsi Prep will face one of the top teams Texas has to offer. The Panthers won the state 6A championship last season and feature Holland, the eighth-best sophomore in the country, according to 247Sports. The 6-foot-7 power forward is currently being courted by Group of Five and Power Five programs such as Texas A&M and Southern Methodist. 

Other Division I prospects with Duncanville include Zhuric Phelps (committed to SMU), Juan Reyna (Alabama State) and Damon Nicholas (Sam Houston State). Aside from Akins and Bates, Ypsi Prep also has Division I targets JaVaughn Hannah, Shawn Philips and Marlon Barnes Jr. 

Don't see the live updates box? Refresh page or try this link to Twitter.

Watch Michigan basketball targets

St. Mark's (Texas) and John Paul II (Texas) — each ranked in MaxPreps' top-50 prep basketball rankings — play before the Ypsi-Duncanville game as the other half of the event. Senior forward Harrison Ingram is the best player on St. Mark's and one of the best in the state. He's committed to play for Stanford, but held an offer from Michigan basketball as well as several other Power Five programs.  

Colin Smith, Ingram's teammates, is a four-star prospect ranked as one of the 25 best power forwards in the class of 2022. Smith is drawing interest from across the Big 12, SEC and Big Ten, including U-M. 

John Paul is led by Jaylon Tyson, a top-10 small forward in the class of 2021 signed to Texas Tech, and Manny Obaseki, a top-five combo guard in the class of 2021 signed to Texas A&M. Cameron Corhen is a three-star junior center with at least two Power Five offers. 

Follow the Free Press on Facebook and Twitter for more news. Tyler Davis can be contacted at tjdavis@freepress.com or on Twitter @TDavisFreep.

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