The week ahead should be a fantastic one for college basketball regulars. There are four games between top 25 teams on Wednesday in the conference showdowns that start on Tuesday. Saturday has two potential bangers: No. 11 Wisconsin vs. No. 5 Marquette, and No. 4 Kentucky vs. No. 7 Gonzaga.
First, let’s spotlight the ACC-SEC Challenge and the Big 12-Big East Battle. Auburn’s offense vs. Duke’s defense should be wildly exciting while Alabama and UNC are facing off with early-season urgency.
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ACC-SEC Challenge
How many readers are old enough to remember the ACC-Big Ten and SEC-Big 12 series? We get a second installment of this new conference clash starting Tuesday night. Last year’s inaugural run ended in a 7-7 tie between the two leagues.
The first slate begins with 7 p.m. ET tips — South Carolina (-4.5) at Boston College, Notre Dame at Georgia (-8.5), Cal at Missouri (-10.5) and Arkansas (-4.5) at Miami.
The SEC plays Goliath in Tuesday’s games. Tennessee is spotting 21.5 points to Syracuse. Oklahoma is laying 11.5 against Georgia Tech, and Texas A&M is an 8.5-point favorite over Wake Forest. Louisville is the ACC’s only favorite from Tuesday’s 10 games.
Tuesday’s closest spread, and perhaps the most compelling matchup, is 7-1 Clemson vs. undefeated Kentucky (-1.5). Mark Pope’s Wildcats lead the country in points per game, and they are seventh in offensive rating. Six of Kentucky’s seven wins have been blowouts, but its November thriller against Duke was one of the first statement games of the season.
Koby Brea is shooting 61 percent from behind the arc, on about six tries per game. He’s one of six Wildcats averaging double-figure scoring so far. This is Kentucky’s first road game of the year.
But as the spread reflects, Clemson can hang. Chase Hunter is off to a torrid start, with 51/46/81 shooting splits so far. Ian Schieffelin leads the conference in rebounds per game. The Tigers are 25th in KenPom rating and 24th in adjusted defensive efficiency.
Brad Brownell has coached Clemson since 2010 with just four NCAA Tournament berths, but last year’s trip to the Elite Eight was Clemson’s second ever. A signature performance Tuesday would put the Tigers firmly on the national radar.
No. 10 Alabama at No. 20 North Carolina
7:15 p.m. ET Wednesday on ESPN
These two know how to make a classic. They met in the Sweet 16 last year, with the Crimson Tide finishing on a furious 7-2 run in the final 80 seconds to knock out the top-seeded Tar Heels. In 2022, Alabama stunned No. 1 UNC in a quadruple-overtime smash. The Smith Center should be appropriately raucous on Wednesday.
RJ Davis will be in pursuit of redemption. He earned all-conference and All-American honors last season, but wrapped his decorated campaign up with a snivel — shooting 4-of-20 and missing all nine of his 3-point tries against Alabama. North Carolina’s offense rolls through a triumvirate of Davis (18.4 points per game), Seth Trimble (16.1) and Elliot Cadeau (14.4).
UNC looks to shake off back-to-back losses at the Maui Invitational. There’s certainly no shame in losing to Auburn, who looks like a world-beater right now, but an overtime loss to Michigan State definitely stings.
Alabama is coming off a disconcerting loss of its own, falling two points short of Oregon in Las Vegas. Its first loss came earlier in November at Purdue. Again, no shame in losing to dignified opponents during the nonconference stretch — both Oregon and Purdue are top-20 in offensive rating. But either way, one of these prestigious programs will walk away Wednesday on a losing streak.
Like Davis, the Tide’s Mark Sears is putting up points (16 per game) on deeply underwhelming splits (35.1 percent from the floor). Fifth-year guys Grant Nelson and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. had been compensating with efficient starts, but Wrightsell’s season-ending Achilles injury is a heartbreaker. The Tide will have to respond on the fly, and Aden Holloway will have a chance to prove himself after transferring from Auburn. Meanwhile, freshman Labaron Philon is already climbing up NBA Draft boards.
Both teams should be applauded for their ambitious early schedules. Nate Oats’ squad has wins over Illinois, Houston and Rutgers. And Hubert Davis’ took top-ranked Kansas to the brink. The Tar Heels were up 20 in a buzzing Allen Fieldhouse, but wound up losing by three.
No. 2 Auburn at No. 9 Duke
9:15 p.m. ET Wednesday on ESPN
By KenPom rating, Auburn has the best offense in the sport, and Duke has the nation’s top defense. We can’t ask for much better in the first week of December.
Historically, Duke is menacing in this spot. It is 37-15 when hosting top-10 opponents, and it is 4-0 all-time against this particular opponent. But Auburn is downright terrifying this season, and Bruce Pearl’s team has scored two wins against top-five opponents in the last month.
Johni Broome is hellacious. He’s averaging 20.7 points (on a 64 percent effective field goal percentage), while leading the SEC in blocks per game (3.1) and leading all of Division I in rebounds per game (12.9). Broome is absolutely balling.
But Auburn is far from a one-man show. Chad Baker-Mazara and Miles Kelly are both shooting above 40 percent on the 3-ball and Tahaad Pettiford is a fearless freshman with a penchant for icy shots down the stretch.
This scoring attack has already proven itself against Houston’s whirring chaos of a defense, but going up against Duke’s defense is its own unique, arduous assignment. Opponents are converting just 40.3 percent of their 2-pointers so far, and they’re shooting under 28 percent on 3-pointers. Five regulars average at least one steal, and the Cooper Flagg and Khaman Maluach are averaging more than a block per game. All-conference defender Maliq Brown enters Wednesday with a team-best 74.4 defensive rating, and he puts up a silly 6.9 steals per 100 possessions.
Neither team is one-dimensional, of course. Auburn’s defense is switchable around the perimeter and tough to beat in the paint largely thanks to Broome. Duke’s offense is headlined by Flagg and Kon Knueppel, but Tyrese Proctor is the most dangerous from deep at 46.9 percent on seven tries a game.
Big 12-Big East Battle
Not to be outdone by the aforementioned interconference clash, the Big 12-Big East action is headlined by some rather cool games. This series has been going on since 2019. Each side has one once, and they’ve played to three ties.
Safe to say, Dan Hurley did not have a relaxing Hawaii holiday. Connecticut is back home, and will look to stop its sudden slide by hosting Scott Drew’s formidable Baylor team Wednesday. Elsewhere, Greg McDermott and Creighton are big underdogs against Kansas, while undefeated DePaul looks to assert its legitimacy in a trip to Texas Tech. In the earliest games, Cincinnati (-3.5) is a slight road favorite over Villanova, and BYU is spotting 5.5 points at Providence.
The Big 12 is loaded this year, with five teams in the top 17 AP poll spots. The Big East touts two ranked teams in UConn and Marquette.
No.5 Marquette at No. 6 Iowa State
8 p.m. ET Wednesday on ESPN+
The Cyclones took an excruciating L to Auburn at the buzzer last week, but with the bags unpacked from Maui, this team should be well-rested and highly-motivated at home. Marquette is another brutal nonconference challenge. Shaka Smart’s Golden Eagles are one of 10 undefeated teams in the power conferences so far. This should be fun.
Iowa State is 50.9 percent from the field this year. Keshon Gilbert leads the way at 16.5 points per game, and Curtis Jones and Milan Momcilovic are both shooting 40 percent or better from 3-point range. Momcilovic is coming off a career-best 24 points in a dominant win over Colorado; he shot 56.3 percent from behind the arc in Maui. T.J. Otzelberger’s group is balanced, disciplined and experienced. They rank fourth in the country in adjusted offensive rating, and are 12th in adjusted defense.
Meanwhile, Marquette is a headache on defense. The Golden Eagles are sixth in adjusted rating and lead all of college basketball in steals per game. Stevie Mitchell and Chase Ross each average almost three swipes per outing. In November’s monumental 18-point win over Purdue, the Golden Eagles smothered the Boilermakers into unsightly offense — 40 percent from the field, and 16 assists to 13 turnovers.
Kam Jones makes for a sensational watch. He has increased his scoring output and field goal percentage in each of his four collegiate seasons. He’s averaging almost 20 points on 72.2 effective shooting. The starting lineup of Mitchell, Jones, Ross, David Joplin and Ben Gold have all been at Marquette for at least three seasons. That level of continuity is almost unheard of in 2024.
Marquette is off to its best start in more than a decade. Smart won in this building twice when he was with Texas. This team should come boosted with confidence on Wednesday.
(Photo of Johni Broome: Mitchell Layton / Getty Images)
