There is one event this week in college basketball that stands apart from anything else going on in the sport and that’s Tuesday’s return of the annual Champions Classic featuring Duke, Kentucky, Kansas and Michigan State per usual and again at the United Center in Chicago. Here’s a preview of the two matchups. Rankings may change slightly.

Top NCAAB Betting Picks of the Week (November 13th, 2023)

Week 1 College Basketball Power Rankings pic.twitter.com/3sqxWyVrPA

— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) November 13, 2023

Duke Blue Devils vs. Michigan State Spartans

• When: Tuesday, November 7th, 2023, 7:00 PM ET
• Where: United Center, Chicago, IL
• TV: ESPN
• Radio: The Buzz 96.5 FM (Duke) // 94.9 WMMQ (Michigan State)
• Live Stream: WatchESPN
• NCAAB Betting Odds: TBA

Tips at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. This neutral site doubleheader debuted in 2011 and features four of the most accomplished programs in the history of the sport returns to the Windy City for the fourth time in the event’s history and first time since 2017. The United Center also hosted the Champions Classic in 2013 and 2015.

Duke is 7-5 all-time in this event and MSU 5-7. The Spartans lead the head-to-head with the Blue Devils in this event only 3-1. The Blue Devils are going to fall from No. 2 in the AP Top 25 because they lost at home to No. 12 Arizona on Friday, 78-73. An 8-0 run gave the Wildcats a 60-54 advantage with 9:28 to go in the second half.

Duke issued a quick response of its own, getting a tough basket inside from Mark Mitchell before Tyrese Proctor’s triple from the left wing pulled the Blue Devils within one, 60-59, at the under-eight timeout. Following a Duke timeout, Roach curled off a screen before splashing home a three from the left-bench side to give Duke a 67-65 advantage at the 2:11 mark of the half. Arizona tied the game shortly after, before an offensive rebound by Filipowski followed by a putback layup regained the Blue Devil advantage with just over a minute remaining. The visitors converted an old-fashioned three-point play to move back in front, 70-69, with 47 seconds to go, then added free throws to push the margin to three.

It snapped Duke’s 17-game home winning streak and was the first loss at Cameron for coach Jon Scheyer. Roach became the 68th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points. Duke is now 9-2 all-time when Roach makes at least three three-pointers, as he was 3-for-5. Kyle Filipowski had 25 points and has scored that many in both games so far.

Michigan State will fall from No. 4 in the polls because it was stunned in its opener early last week by James Madison, but Tom Izzo’s Spartans bounced back with a 74-51 win over Southern Indiana on Thursday. Sparty star Tyson Walker was in some question with a minor injury but had 14 points and had four assists, while junior guard Jaden Akins added 13 points, seven rebounds and four steals, senior forward Mady Sissoko had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds and graduate forward Malik Hall finished with 12 points, four rebounds and two assists. Walker has scored in double figures 77 times in his career and now has 849 points in 72 games at Michigan State (11.8 per game).

The Spartans outscored the Screaming Eagles, 38-14, in the paint. MSU connected on 82.1 percent of its free throws (23-of-28), including 90.9 percent in the second half (10-of-11). The Spartans forced 15 turnovers by the Eagles and had a 20-12 edge in points off turnovers. Michigan State outscored USI, 23-1, on the fast break.

NCAAB Betting Pick: Duke

Kansas Jayhawks vs. Kentucky Wildcats

• When: Tuesday, November 14th, 2023, 9:30 PM ET
• Where: United Center, Chicago, IL
• TV: ESPN
• Radio: KKSW FM 105.9 (Kansas) // WBUL 98.1 FM (Kentucky)
• Live Stream: WatchESPN
• NCAAB Betting Odds: TBA

Tip at 9:30 p.m. ET Tuesday on ESPN. Kansas is 7-5 all-time in this event and Kentucky 5-7. The Jayhawks lead the head-to-head in just this event 3-1. KU has blown out its two opponents and is off a 99-61 rout of Manhattan on Friday. Hunter Dickinson had 18 points and eight rebounds, Kevin McCullar Jr. and Johnny Furphy added 15 points apiece, and KJ Adams Jr. finished with 14 points. Elmarko Jackson added 10 assists and nine points. Dickinson, the transfer from Michigan, has scored in double figures 50 times in his career, including in both of his games at Kansas. Dickinson secured his 800th career rebound in the second half.

Freshman Elmarko Jackson was just shy of a double-double with nine points and a game-high 10 assists in 29 minutes. He is the first Kansas freshman with double-digit assists in a game since Quentin Grimes on Nov. 12, 2018 vs. Vermont (10).

The Jayhawks’ massive size advantage paid off. They had nine blocks by the time they hit the locker room, and that contributed to 9-for-33 first-half shooting by the Jaspers that allowed the game to get out of hand. Kansas shot 56.7 percent (38-of-67) from the field for the game. Kansas has shot 50.0 percent or better in the first two games to start the season for the first time since the 2020 season. KU finished with 99 points for the second straight game and has finished with at least 90 points in the first two games of the season for the first time since 2020.

Kansas is 2-0 for the 12th time in head coach Bill Self’s 21 seasons at KU. “Now the season starts,” Self said. “We played fairly well getting through them, but now we have to really hunker down. It’ll be a totally different animal than what we’ve experienced so far. But we’ll be very excited about it.”

Kentucky is also 2-0 and comes off an 81-61 win over Texas A&M-Commerce. The Lions came out hot, making seven of their first 10 shots, including five from beyond the arc. It all added up to a 19-6 lead for Texas A&M Commerce less than seven minutes into the game. The Cats would eventually right the ship, going on an 11-1 run to take the lead for the first time, 25-24, with 7:41 left in the first half and the Cats would lead 38-30 at the break.

UK head coach John Calipari thought that, long term, falling behind in this game could be beneficial.

“Loved it,” Calipari said. “Now, you have to understand that they had played two games and they were shooting from the three, 20 percent, 21 percent, whatever. I said it doesn’t matter, they’re playing us, they will come out and make threes. And that’s why, in huddles, I was saying we needed to string some plays together.”

Antonio Reeves led all scorers with 21 points, leading five Cats in double figures. Tre Mitchell had 18 points, eight rebounds and three steals, while Justin Edwards had 16 points and seven rebounds. UK is 216-10 (95.6%) under Calipari when the opponent scores 63 points or less. The Wildcats are 331-14 (95.9%) in the Calipari era when leading by as many as 10 points at any time during the contest.

NCAAB Betting Pick: Kansas

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